7/7 London

This is sad day.

My heart goes out to all those killed and injured in the attacks.

My mentor is in London with his charges at the moment and they leave for Durham, a couple days ahead of schedule, in the morning. I am glad he and everyone is safe.

Let's all pray for peace, but never forgetting that sure and decisive retribution secures it.

For those seeking comfort or answers, perhaps--just perhaps--Fr. Martin Sylvester's words might help. [More responses (of a similar nature)]

Here is a poem by the Polish poet and critic, Wislawa Szymborska, who was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature "for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality."

The word here is not enjoy, but remember.





A photograph from Sept. 11 (2002), Wislawa Szymborska

They jumped from the burning stories, down

-- one, two, a few more

higher, lower.

A photograph captured them while they were alive and now preserves them

above ground, toward the ground.

Each still whole

with their own face

and blood well hidden.

There is still time,

for their hair to be tossed,

and for keys and small change

to fall from their pockets. They are still in the realm of the air,

within the places

which have just opened.

There are only two things I can do for them

-- to describe this flight

and not to add a final word.