Category Archives: Philosophy, Politics and Religion

Poems whose theme relates to politics, philosophy or religion

Faith & Politics

Faith & Politics

 

Faith & Politics
Should faith be lived out in politics
Can both exist in harmony?
What if the moral principles
That faith dictates, conflict  with politic’s reality?

Faith sets out the behaviour for living by certain rules
Politics dictates the practical reality for everyday action
In the modern world we live by political systems
The historical fundamentals of these derived from ancient dictats

But what if such ancient scripture may seem no longer relevant?
However much they were appropriate to that day and generation
Society has moved on to meet the challenge of modernity
Thus the social mores of each succeeding generation steadily evolves

But are there some eternal principals that society must n’er discard?
No advance of science, nuance of mood or fashion
That supersedes those ancient fundaments
Demanding that modern politics establish new modes of living

Thus might it be said the Bible, Ancient Jewish Texts and the Koran
Each accepted by the faithful to be the word of God
Must not the believer ‘er discard this Holy Writ?
For the sophistication and compromise of politics?

Here is the current dilemma
Faith superseded by the world of modern life
Or a continuing battle for the soul
Adhering to the ancient rule or modern reality?

Ken Fisher

 

Shrove Tuesday 2023

Shrove Tuesday 2013

What has been spoke 
Might well have been woke!

 

This is the day when we should confess all our sins
And thus duly shriven a new chapter begins
We must be open and honest in making confession
Pay our due penance and receive absolution

I fear that only those who are faithful and devout
Are willing and eager on their vices to speak out
After all, until recently, the sins of past days
Would hardly an eyebrow nowadays raise!

But that does not mean that a little reflection
Would make it clear we have not reached perfection
And taking the time to resolve to be better
Will not result in our pleasures being totally fettered

While on self-improvement we should contemplate
A little sweetener for all, we might advocate
And as Shrove Tuesday stands at the gate of Lent
We might find some feasting for fasting is quite convenient

So let’s have a party with pancakes galore
Bring out all the goodies we have in our store
Put deadly sins behind – except perhaps gluttony
And cover those pancakes with sweet oceans of honey

But in this age be careful of what is spoke
Lest all our proclamations my be classed as woke
Think carerfully of every word and every earnest sentence
While chewing on our pancakes there be no need for repentence!

 

Ken Fisher

Political Change

Political Change

Sometimes it happens unexpected
Although others claim it had been detected
But the sudden resignation of the FM
Was certainly beyond our Ken

The world of politics is rough
And to survive you need be tough
Yet Nicola seemed to have the grit
Ensuring that she would not quit

But perhaps for all there comes the hour
When no longer the rewards of power
Can the hostile jibes o’ercome
Or painful attacks might numb

Then comes the time to say enough
Hand on the baton with all its stuff
A multiplicity of issues to resolve
All aspects will their life involve

So whatever be your politics
Dilemmas, angst that would transfix
Spare a thought for the bold successor
Of a calm mind may they be possessor

Ken Fisher

 

Goodbye Daddy God?

Goodbye Daddy God?

There’s a project being launched to change the language around God
Pronouns He and Him are apparently quite odd
Instead it is felt that God is gender-neutral, neither one thing or the other
God, if we choose just like a sister or a brother

References in our liturgy and prayer at home or church
Starting ‘our Father’ some sensitive souls doth hurt
Gendered language is now outmoded and must be cast aside
Our names for God no longer narrow but open wide

The Liturgical Commission will wrestle with this complex affair
Traditionalists say God as Father should make nobody despair
But modernists say it’s time for change to promote inclusive language
God can be thought of as a multi-layered sandwich

All this is happening amidst another fierce debate
Around Church marriage for civil couples, they say that is too late
So it seems in the world of politics ecclesiastical
Gender issues will stimulate more angst theological

Ken Fisher

On a simialr vein see:SHEHOVAH  Shehovah

Saint Andrew

Saint Andrew

Today we celebrate the Apostle Saint Andrew
Patron saint of fishermen, Scotland, and Russia
Brother of Simon Peter, and one of the first to be called
He in turn brought people to Jesus, not least the lad with the loaves and fishes

From Andrew we have an example of willingness to serve others
Today we might say he was a people person
In Scotland he is fondly remembered and his day celebrated
Not merely by nationalists for the saltire cross but by all who would give of themselves for the good of others

Ken Fisher

 

Now You’re Asking

Now You’re Asking
Questions, Questions, Endless Questions!

From infant days to venerable age
Life emulates a question mark
Who can explain, or justify
Or change our view to light from dark?

The tiny tot who’s learned to talk
Asks Why? perpetually
Won’t be turned off till we explain
Our answer truthfully

Throughout our schooling
Endless questions tax our brain
Knowledge ranges far and wide
From common to arcane

Then as we progress to learning
Of an even higher order
Questions turning more obscure
Might our peace disorder

In the world of work
Questions never ending
What choice to make, what problem solve?
Dilemmas never-ending

In social life we can’t escape
The questions that arise
To wed or not, or fly solo
With whom to fraternize

And so it goes, throughout our life
With questions we’re lambasted
In politics, religion, science or art
We can be flabbergasted!

Questions can sometimes be used
As  weapons against others
Journalists, lawyers, inquisitors, even
To their offending offspring, by their mother

It appears that none of us
Can dodge being interrogated
To supply the answers each of us
Feels duly obligated

So there we are throughout our life
We respond “now you’re asking”
When confronted by a tough query
Our ignorance we are masking

Ken Fisher

End of an Era, Start of the New

End of an Era, Start of the New

Pomp, pageant, precedent
The march of time could not prevent
Shock at the loss of our dear Queen
The hour not readily foreseen

Suddenly the Queen is gone
Young and old left quite forlorn
Hard to accept she is no more
That presence that most adore

One era ends, begins the new
The succession follows through
King Charles in time duly anointed
As to sovereign’s role appointed

Give thanks for blessings of the past
May the new King still hold fast
To the glory of his mother’s reign
Thus her nobility attain

Ken Fisher

 

Take Me To Your Leader

Take Me To Your Leader

Today we have been taken to the new leader
Of the Tory members throughout our land
The chosen one by their due process
The new PM, the Cabinet at her command

Liz Truss raised to this high office
All the burdens of the State
The outcome of her decisions
May determine the voters’ fate

A nation in an hour of crisis
Warfare, covid, energy, inflation
No need to look far for trouble
Endless woes in aggregation

Opinions differ there is no doubt
No matter what our views political
We would surely wish for success
In facing manifold issues critical

As Her Majesty duly ‘kisses hands’
And as Liz receives the keys to Number 10
We ne’er would grudge success in her endeavours
May our thoughts be of blessing
Swift to praise, slow to condemn

Ken Fisher

 

 

 

Honest Doubt

Honest Doubt

 

A thought:
“RELIGION: Men despise religion, they hate it, and fear
that is is true”  BLAISE PASCAL [1623-1662]

Would that belief with all the heart
That faith would take the major part
No doubts evoke that it be fiction
Grim spectre of contradiction

Why should faith be so elusive?
At times conviction quite conclusive
At others, of any certainty devoid
Credence rarely unalloyed

Ambivalence yielding only anguish
In this tension the soul languish
Faith and doubt in opposition
Need hope in salvation avert perdition?

For those whose trust is resolute
Brook no questions, no dispute
Their creed for them is all sufficient
Safe with their loving God omniscient

Yet who would deem it cynicism
When intelligent scepticism
Decides it be a precondition
To weigh in the balance propositions

Study of God’s word the resolution?
Or merely leads to obfuscation
Religion ‘lite’ a better course
Freed from the wrath of sinner’s curse

And what of those of frail conviction
Beset by doubt and  contradiction?
For them, faith a prize not quite yet earned
Still in their heart wistfully yearned

 

 

Ken Fisher

Venerated Ruins

Venerated Ruins

The Scottish Borders Abbeys
Melrose, Dryburgh, Kelso, Jedburgh

Dryburgh Abbey 

 

                                                                             

Kelso Abbey

Serene in these ancient kirkyards
The ruins lie at rest
Testimony to their illustrious past
Historians will know best

Founded in the 12th Century
In King David’s reign
Scotland’s southern monasteries
Through all chance and change
Their mission was the same

Perpetual prayer and supplication
The Chapter and the Rule’s command
Hours of silence, simple tasks
The discipline demands

Despite the pursuit of such peace
The sanctuary oft disrupted
Warring factions, Border reives
Plunder and pillage their service interrupted

And now in modern times the silence reigns
Historic testimony their only proclamation
Mere venerated ruins with muted voice
Unheeded by our post-Christian nation

Ken Fisher

 

Inscrutable

Inscrutable

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The enigmatic pose
The impassive mind
The unknowable thoughts
The unfathomable depths
The impenetrable meaning
The inexplicable understanding
The unexpressive serenity

All these attributes
Displayed in one small (rather portly) frame

No warfare with the world
No conflict with oneself
No striving to achieve
No quest for success
No hiding from reality
No hostility to others
No internecine strife

Only peace and harmony
In a mind at ease

Ken Fisher

Contrast the above poem with Freak Out

Political Beauty Parade Now Reduced to Two

Political Beauty Parade Now Reduced to Two

It’s now a head-to-head between Rishi and Liz
For whom will the Tories crack open the fizz?
Between now and then the contest will rage
As each the other will try to upstage

The heat of this summer is quite enough
Without all this needless point scoring stuff
So let’s hope the contenders behave in a civilised way
Not treat their rival as a dragon to slay

The Tory members have got the power in their hands
The appointment of Leader and PM is at their command
So let wisdom direct their considered choice
That on 5th of September will the nation rejoice

Ken Fisher

See Also: Political Beauty Parade