21 April 2011

POEM: MEDITATION EASTER MORNING



MEDITATION EASTER MORNING

What is this morning's meaning,
this unfamiliar light,
early voices swirling like mist,
blood upon the winding sheet?

In this dawning silence, outside,
the living whirl in a ring of fire,
sporting masks of a thousand faces,
choosing each other's madness.

Here, crime is not one person's failure
but a nation's illness,
fulfilling lust with social levity,
where malice is mutual and different faiths
heat up the flames.

Now only the streets
carry exotic names of poets and flora.
All else is misery.

To love is to kill,
to laugh is to cry,
to kiss is to die...

The mind, in vain,
attempts to see a world
where wars have ceased,
where tears have dried,
and sorrow, pain and death
no longer breathe.

Then fetch me a guide,
a speck from the smallest star.
No, Tiresias, we'll be
as the blind leading the blind,
falling, perhaps, into the abyssmal truth
of knowing all.

So tear me away from my heart's havoc.
Let me rise this morning
with the risen One,
as he flourishes his seed
into trees of righteousness.
Let me be one of those plants,
whilst I meditate on how his light
has routed darkness.
JOE SALIBA

15 April 2011

COME, LORD JESUS.

EJJA, MULEJ ĠESÙ.

Dalwaqt niftakru fil-Passjoni u l-Irxoxt ta' Sidna Ġesù
Kristu. Tajjeb li nqawwu qlubna u naħsbu ftit fit-tieni
miġja tiegħu meta tibda s-saltna tiegħu fuq id-dinja
u Hu jkun, kif kien imħabbar fil-Bibbja,
is-Sultan tas-slaten.


CHRISTUS REX

Kemm jgħaddu ċentinarji,
u l-festa tiġi u tmur!
Kif jgħibu l-istaġuni
maħruba bħal mutur!

Jittieklu l-monumenti,
imutu n-nies bl-eluf,
u waqt li nħaffru l-oqbra
jittawlu t-tfal mill-ġuf.

Kuntrasti u paraguni,
tixwix, gwerer u ġlied,
saltniet jitkissru u frakhom
jitħalla lill-werriet.

Fruntieri jaqgħu f'lejla,
bliet kbar jisfaw deffun,
min jibki kollu dmija,
u min f'daru midfun.

Sa l-anġli jidhru mbeżżgħa!
X'saħta fuq il-bnedmin
li f'roqgħa ħàma jinten
jitqallbu fuq xulxin!

L-uħux ta' Sodom qamu
mill-melħ u mill-irmied,
stenbħu sabiex ilaqqmu
bil-mard subien u bniet.

Tħarsux lura lejn darkom
għax nieżla mis-smewwiet
xita ta' nar u ħġejjeġ.
Aħarbu mill-ibliet!

L-iskrejjen qed iduru,
ix-xfafar misnunin.
Dalwaqt għall-ħaqq jiltaqgħu
l-imqajma mal-ħajjin.

Dalwaqt jinfetħu l-kotba,
dalwaqt il-firda ssir,
dalwaqt flimkien ninġabru
miġbuda biż-żarżir.

Trumbetta wara l-oħra
tgħajjat fl-erbat irjieħ;
il-ġnus waqfu jissemmgħu.
Min hu li qed isieħ?

Dalwaqt b'rogħda tinqasam
il-Għolja taż-żebbuġ,
meta mill-Belt Qadima
jispiċċa d-dħul u l-ħruġ.

Għax Hu l-ewwel li jidħol
mill-bieb imħejji għalih
f'Ġerusalem il-Ġdida
fejn kollox hemm sabiħ.

Araw dik in-nixxiegħa
ħierġa minn taħt l-altar,
mal-ġnub siġar li jfejqu
kull mard, uġigħ u mrar.

Ejjew immissu l-weraq,
nixorbu l-ilma ċar;
hemmhekk l-istess inkunu,
hemmhekk m'hemmx għonja u fqar.

Hemm biss saltna ta’ mħabba
li tilħaq kullimkien,
kull rokna, ġens u bniedem.
Dinjitna saret ġnien!

JOE SALIBA
14.5.1992