Pen Me A Poem » religion

‘Amore Infinite’: Placido Domingo & Pope John Paul II’s Poems

Edward — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:27:16 +0000

The album Amore Infinite by the Spanish tenor Placido Domingo was released earlier this week. It is a collection of songs about nature, the power of love, freedom, and even motherhood. However this is no ordinary album for each and every song was inspired by the poetry of the late Pope John Paul II.

Originally, Placido Domingo and his son Placido Domingo Jr. had composed songs based on the Polish Pope’s religious poetry filled with the trappings of Catholicism. The opera singer then realised this might not spread the richness of the poetry as far as it could go and decided to make the songs more universal.

“I said, ‘This is fine, this is beautiful. … Maybe one day we should record this,’” he said in an interview. “But … this pope has been very much loved and admired by everybody, so there should exist other songs. So we found all this new material, so we found a lot of different themes.”

Karol Wojtyla, who became Pope John Paul II in 1978, went on to be celebrated as the second longest serving pontificate in the history of the Vatican. In 1981 he barely survived an assassination attempt when the Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Ağca opened fire on him during a parade in St. Peter’s Square.

Placido Domingo is a great admirer of the late Pope’s work which included a variety of published poems, plays and philosophical essays. Shortly before Wojtyla’s death in 2005, the tenor met with him and was thanked by the pontiff for previous operatic performances.

“When he was thanking me, I said, ‘Holiness, I know that you have wrote a lot more poems, so I would like it very much that we would put music to some of them, and record them,’” the Spanish great said. “He told me, ‘Oh, that would be wonderful,’ so in a way, he approve it.”

Domingo and his son believe the album Amore Infinite showcases the great humanity of Pope John Paul II during his long life time. Domingo Jr. worked on the CD which features well-known classical singing talents such as Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Vanessa Williams and Katherine Jenkins.

Atheist Bus Campaign Draws Christian Ire

Edward — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:26:45 +0000

The Atheist Bus Campaign in the United Kingdom was born from the idea of countering the wide array of Christian advertising said to adorn public billboards and London buses. Political blogger Jon Worth first came up with the concept and the momentum was later joined by the British Humanist Association, which set up, with generous help from Richard Dawkins, a public donation web-page. The campaign raised a staggering £136,000 which led to the branding of 200 bendy-buses in London and 600 vehicles in England, Scotland and Wales, with the mildly controversial message, ‘There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life’. The poem below is about the recent case of a Mr Ron Heather, a bus driver from Southampton, who refused to drive a bus laden with the advert, out of a sense of ‘shock’ and ‘horror’ to his religious sensibilities.

Probably no buses

“There’s probably no God” in Southampton
“Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”.
Now that’s not strictly true – God’s nationwide,
Dwelling on buses, from north to south,
Bringing the atheist message to all.
Southampton’s the home of Mr Heather
A Christian. The British Humanists,
Have been left perplexed by said bus driver’s
Refusal to drive transport with the sign.
“We just can’t understand”, they responded.
Muttering confusion, as the pulpits
Of small coffee shops and internet chat rooms
Ask one question: “Why the word ‘probably’
When the campaign’s defined as atheist?

The full story can be read in this BBC Hampshire article.

One Word: ‘Allah’

Edward — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:46:39 +0000

In poverty stands he firm with eyes
On heaven’s door; his gaze implies
A comfort held; his smile bright sceptre
The creation of his protector.
On a makeshift counter there lie
Wares arrayed; like the old Sinai
He bares the rush of feet and stares;
A life he keeps, death to forswear.
Near, voices perceived, but only
To Marzuq dances that, which lone
He catches from the grass and walls
That surround his mind enthralled:
Says the pavement, and the packet,
Sing the fibres in a jacket,
Chant the cells in every vein
That do mimic drops of rain.
Chirps the blackbird in the tree
And the tiny skittish flea,
From the Cirrus in the sky,
To the moon that watches high
As the voice of every object
Cries His name with deep respect.

“Allah”