Culture Articles
Oblation
Wrapped in the silent Quaker hour I see behind closed eyes the lattice of a purple honeycomb. I watch the undulating butterfly draw nectar from the open flower whose shy sense shapes the gift of hidden power.
Only a Signal Shown
Garnishing a love story and the lives of the characters within it with some personal experiences, Leela Dutt’s Only a Signal Shown is an enjoyable, emotional journey. This journey starts with a burnt marmalade-basted chicken. Eleanor and Alec share the results of his limited cooking skills and both...
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins is not at all the misanthrope, thinking poisonous thoughts about humanity, which some people suppose. On the contrary; he loved his parents, his boyhood in Africa, Oxford, science, poetry, music and many of his colleagues. He had fond parents. His father, a botanist who had studied at...
Not ideas about the war but the war itself
Dad hated those processions: strangulated distant bugles, rifles butting Whitehall tarmac, doleful incantations from the comfortable clergy resurrecting Albert, Chalky and those other lads who ‘grew not old as we that are left grow old’. And then the trumpet keening like a scrawny seagull over downturned heads and surreptitious coughs.
Antonine Legionary
I marched these hills not long ago, I travelled north in search of foe, Wild blue-faced tribes, encountered there, Barbaric people, caused such scare. We captured some, and sent them home, To slavery, in ancient Rome. Though I am Roman, not myself, A Syrian archer, trained in stealth.
Spring
Winter drags on: Grey day pursued by Grey day. The sun Appears, winks a bleary eye, Surveys his pale cold kingdom And disappears once more Behind the draperies of cloud.
Two worlds or one?
A play about the experiences of wounded soldiers, in their own words, is currently touring. The Two Worlds of Charlie F won an Amnesty Freedom of Expression award. A documentary about it was shown on BBC1. The drama is based on interviews with thirty-two wounded veterans, mostly from Afghanistan....
Cry of the Earth
Last summer we put on Cry of the Earth in Leiden, Netherlands. I would like to share, with British Friends, memories of a wonderful performance. The music was by Tony Biggin and the libretto by Alec Davison. You are so blessed to have these two men with you, who make...
The historical Jesus
I am part of a small Quaker group using the ‘Friendly Bible Study’ method to study Mark’s gospel. Often we come across problems relating to our lack of knowledge of the context in which Bible stories are set; for example, why was Jesus visiting people who herded pigs? I...
Ploughing
The farmer tells us Old Punch is due for retirement now, and that he’ll spend the rest of his happy days grazing contentedly in peaceful pastures.