Blinding hatred

 

Now “The Hobbit” has had its première in Sweden, directed by Peter Jacksson. Some will love it and others hate it. The novel was written by J.R.R. Tolkien and the book was first published in 1937. The picture above I made some years ago to a scene from The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The stories are both peaceful and violent, with a struggle between good and evil. On the surface one could see these stories as simply violent sagas without a message. However, if you choose to look beyond the surface you might detect the many nuances, especially when you read the books. There is a message of love, affection, comradship, a longing for a greener world and an awareness of the many dark aspects of war and power games. This leads me to another of my own poems. On November 16th 2003 I wrote a poem in Swedish called “Hatet som förblindar” and later on translated it into English. The English version of it I made on September 13th 2009 with the title “Blinding hatred”. This is how it goes:

What power in our world makes all us humans blind?
It leads to destruction and cruel and hard demise.
Hatred it is called, which brings the wild and warlike mind,
and struck our kins with pain – hostility unwise.

When prejudice and greed are rulers of our ways
with blinkers for our eyes to stop a clear, wise view
that we are so alike, and wisdom put in place,
then hate destroys our fortune, what’s sound and what is true.

The greedy men they covet, and all the power seek,
and wish to rule as all – neglect a life in peace.
They walk upon our corpses, the ferocious and the meek,
usurp our realms for wars, compassion they will tease.

To lure us into wars, they fool us to hate others.
They fill us with their lies, and justice always smothers.
Since far way back in time – millennia in abundance –
we humans covet prejudice, and hateful words we spread.

Compassion though is strong, which gives the healing chance,
has also been there always – since we gave neighbours bread.

When humans knowledge seek, each other get to know
they crush the hateful mind so loving care might win,
and not our fellows burn, but understanding grow,
then wisdom in us all will help us see our kin.

The ugly face of racism, exaggerated polemic
which hates the various ways in culture, tongue, complexion,
the haters see it simple, believes in ruthless trick
that they’re always right – put others in bad section

Among the humans all – in every single group,
we must defy the mental and military troup!!

This is the message I often try to convey in various ways, since I firmly believe that we ought to try and find more positive approaches in our human interaction.

Anders Moberg, December 14th 2012