We sit here in our living rooms,
Our shelves are full of great food,
With lots of time to do at ease,
All the things to improve our mood.
Who would believe a day would come,
When staying at home could be so much fun.
When idle time becomes a virtue,
Being on the dole just has to be done.
Commercial life is coming to a halt,
Factories, hotels, pubs and clubs,
Soccer, GAA, Rugby are all closing their doors,
Walking alone with the two cubs.
Washing our hands like a theatre nurse,
Afraid to cough, even worse to sneeze,
Can’t visit your friends or even the Church,
Least you pass something on and feel a sleeze.
You came from Corona, you murderous fiend,
So far away, it might stay that way.
In China with its vast population,
Like Armageddon it’s barren streets lay.
Before this the world was falling apart,
Wars, migration, Brexit, Putin, Boris and Trump.
China’s invasion or Putin’s silent war?
Environmental challenge to the world dump.
China has halted, Italy has taken it’s place
Cremations take place at a horrendous rate
The whole of Europe hold it’s breath,
To see where the virus is heading next.
We in Ireland were licking our wounds,
Our Government fell as it lacked some speed,
Homelessness, Brexit, Irish language, cash for ash,
Came to an end trying to sort out our breed.
Our Government now is up in the air,
Our troubles are buried beneath Covid-19 threat,
All energy, finance and people with one thing in mind
A cure for this madness, it’s prayers to find.
To date we incurred 4 tragic deaths,
Our road fatalities this month so far is fifteen,
Have we lost the run of ourselves,
Or is this really the ultimate pharmaceutical dream.
Gerald Donnelly
21 March 2020
19.18
(Continued)
COVID 19 PLUS FOUR MONTHS ON
Covid 19 virus plus four months has just arrived,
Phase 11 of the lockdown has just been lifted.
Government, HSE, economists let go of the reins,
Companies, shops, sports and horseracing all have been gifted.
Getting back to normal is such a task,
Distance walking and shopping is a big ask.
All anxious, against the odds, to seek their place,
While all the time working at snail’s pace.
The three months gone by, an amazing spending spree injected,
1,600 deaths, 25,000 positive, 25% staff infected,
Masks, protective gear, goggles and hand cream,
Orders for billions of euro goods were somebody’s dream.
Buying up test centres and Private Hospital time,
Return of doctors and nurses home to help the dying.
They set up contact tracing , an ace up their sleeve,
If trouble arose it would be quick to retrieve.
They quickly learned the way the virus could spread
Through coughing and sneezing and being too close together.
Started in Hospitals and then to the Nursing Home doors,
With plane loads of people still arriving on our shores.
The Churches closing nearly overnight it seemed
Impossible to implement social distancing it was deemed.
Funeral attendance reduced down to Ten,
Over 65’s told “they should not attend!”
Church members sent into a “free for all”,
Panic set in “are we set for a fall?”.
Secularists could not have come up with a better plan,
To undermine the beliefs of our 2,000 year old Clan
What happened next took us all by surprise,
Zoom calling took off as we took the nosedive.
Technology , iPod, Whatsapp and Facebook,
Live Masses, Talks, Pilgrimage and Hymnbooks.
Did all this happen to test our faith?
To concentrate our minds in our hour of debate?
Remind ourselves of the treasure in store,
In our brothers and sisters who just live next door.
We breathe another sigh of relief,
Fasten our belts and strengthen our beliefs.
Find new ways of helping those in need,
For that is why our dear Jesus’s wounds did bleed.
Gerald Donnelly 6. 2020.
graceB4meals.net.
ACI Submission to Conference of Irish Bishops – 01/10/2019
“I thought one day you’d try to amaze me.
I fought so hard to justify.
Where you came from,
But where you’re going…
It’s best not to lie.
What’s with this thought to erase us?
Can’t find the words to simplify.
Where that would come from?
Now where you’re going…
Is really kind of wild.
It’s the new stuff. Get with the times – tough! Open up your eyes.
It’s the new stuff. WE don’t mind it so rough – as long as WE don’t die.
You ecocidal maniacs, please allow our waters back – woohoo!! Uh, oh!?!
You ecocidal maniacs, please allow the cycle of life, and love.
You ecocidal maniacs, there’s no more reason to trust – and it fits like a glove.
I knew these steps would try to discourage me.
A straight line walked decades at a time.
But now that we’ve got here
To not know where we’re going
Is simply uninspired.
Now that this moment can’t elude us.
Look at them straight in the eyes.
Tell them it’s over.
We are not going to take it.
Simply standing by.
Written in the summer of 2019 – “Ecocidal Maniacs” was crafted while I was fasting, off-grid, in the middle of nowhere on a mountain top. At this point I had spent 2 years learning about politics and the local challenges faced by our shrinking population on a UN commissioned agenda being politically manipulated on a local level. Some of the worst stats you’d find in Canada around healthcare delivery and poverty…you can imagine this doesn’t sit well with me – a “social hacktivist” and “environmental artivist”. The track, in its demo form, produced by an Extinction Rebellion activist/DJ from the UK.
Hate to judge but tapping into that ‘sacred anger’ is a therapeutic process that’s hard to walk away from. I’m in my late 40s and working on a rather short timeline. Those bright blue skies are going to make for some interesting collisions. The economic snapshots in time have been illuminating.
Is Ireland ready to go green in their parishes yet or are we still debating if this is a timely idea or not?
https://soundcloud.com/inviting_lightning/ecocidal-maniacs-eagle-eye-view-andy-green/s-XDHP1