Tanka about Pain
1. Chronic Pain
Stupid, really,
to say it, given the pain
must be and is …
Yet I feel compelled to cry
one more time: Unbearable!
2. Killers
Once again pain
has conquered my pain-killers.
So many down!
I send reinforcements, hardly
caring if they kill … pain or me.
3. Giving Comfort
In lovingkindness
my friend calls to ask after
the state of my pain.
And to comfort him I say,
“It’s not quite so bad today.”
4. Ambitions
Waking, I wonder
when the day will be over.
Oh, living with pain
has reduced my ambitions
to just … living without pain.
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins