because of the divine promises made about this territory...

there will never be peace; there will never be compromise.

Because of the divine promises made about this territory, there will never be peace; there will never be compromise. There will instead be misery, shame, & tyranny… and people will kill each other’s children for ancient books, & caves, & relics.

Christopher Hitchens, (1949 – 2011), English-American writer, social critic…

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divine promises — Dec. 2024 — © darren harley

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if Hitch
were alive
on this day

we can guess
what he’d write
& what he’d say

—

put away
ancient books
from eras past

let go-of
anachronistic
relics

emerge
from constrictive
caves
buried deep
in the desert

—

break free.

—

open a book
by Dawkins
or by Harris

embrace
a humanistic
worldview

learn to love
thy neighbor
as thyself
as it says
in thy scrolls

—

elsewise
we will continue
to awake
to the same-old
morning headlines.

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Israel said it struck targets in Lebanon after vowing to retaliate for an attack by Hezbollah, with both sides accusing each other of violating last week's ceasefire.

BBC, Global News Podcast, (Dec. 2, 2024)…

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and on
and on
the killing goes

—

in perpetuity.

open to change

i have a number
of readers
and friends

who hold firm
to their beliefs
and their faith

who still
find a way
to treat others
as they would hope
to be treated

—

with respect.

—

these friends
are the ones
who read widely

be it books
blogs
essays
journals
papers
periodicals
and/or poems

these friends
are the ones
unafraid
of being open
to change

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courageous conversations about the human condition

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thank you Albert, Bertrand, Christopher, Richard, & Sam.

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