CONTENTS

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Afterglow - Home
Cover Page

Introduction
Background Info.

Tas. Peace Trust
Aims, etc.

T. Ritchie
Simpleness

J. Richardson
Sarajevo Madness
Sorrow & Pain
Act of Love


E. Janssen
Sweet Dreams 1
Sweet Dreams 2
Cognisance
Ahuriri


C. Kirkpatrick
To Thich Nhat Hanh
Old Peace Offerings
Spider


A. Bassett
Dawn

M. Haines
Shadowed Martyr

J. Austin
Pax Pacis

D. McMaster
Peace & Tranquillity

J. Parker
The Stirring

EDITOR:

Rita Summers

riet@hotmail.com

SARAJEVO MADNESS

Beneath the paling moon
a face looks out
across the snow that settles soft
on madness all around,
on mortar shells and softer sounds
of tearing bread
and the mewing cry of a kitten
there on a bed of degradation
where the unloved lie.
Fiery fingers tease the walls
in the aftermath of fear and despair,
clutching at lives
saved by the grace of volunteers
who toiled where ninety-seven died,
a mixture of races in a mental asylum
fighting for survival
long before this senseless slaughter began.
Theirs was a war on mental illness,
lost at the hands of the truly insane
and amid the madness
the paling moon looks down on Sarajevo.

© Jennifer Richardson


SORROW AND PAIN 

On a beach all alone
mid the glistening sand,
stands the sorrowing woman
awaiting the hand.
The hand that will reach
across boundaries of time,
offer warmth and contentment
allow her to climb.
To climb from the depths
of her sorrow and pain,
to taste of life's pleasures
free from the reign.
The reign of terror
she's fighting inside,
her courage has ebbed
borne away on the tide.
The tide will come back
in the fullness of time,
rewarding her courage
allow her to climb.
Climb free of the terror
the sorrow and pain,
find laughter and love
in her life once again.

(c) Jennifer Richardson


ACT OF LOVE 

Teasing, pleasing the eye with shimmering form,
gently roll the rafts of otters in effortless grace.
Whiskery faces peer, seemingly out of place
from swathes of leathery lustre,
those garlands of kelp.
A vision of love brought to fruition.
The focus of one idea, one dream,
not to save the world
to save one link, reforge the chain.
Sea otters, creatures of beauty
back from the edge of extinction.
Saved by true friends
long before conservation was fashionable,
or even tax deductible.
An act of love by people who lie in the ocean
swathed in rubber suits
teaching orphaned babies to shell a crab.
A privilege, not a pain.
I heard her words of wisdom.
Focus on one issue, do all you can ...
It's a privilege, I thought,
watching Margaret Owings, lady of nine decades,
Friend of the Sea Otters of Monterey Bay.
Half a world away.

(c) Jennifer Richardson



More poetry by Jennifer Richardson
The Ice Man from Otzval Valley, Rowallen Fossil, and more.


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