Killers, Angels, Refugees is a collection of lyrics and poems by
Peter Hammill, the founding member and frontman of
Van der Graaf Generator. It's already forty-one years since that book, but now at the gates of a new year the title jumped into my head as a conclusion.
I don't believe in angels, but I do believe in good deeds, indeed. That positive ideas and individuals can grow with wings.
This passed year of 2015 has been a period of killers, killings and refugees in Europe, too. Over
1 000 000 arrivals by the Mediterranean sea during one year only. The situation with IS and their alikes, striking in "the middle of" Europe, and the refugee flood has aroused anxiety and fear. Scared of the slightest possibility of terrorism - in their front yard, on their door steps, rising up their elevator - some have even turned into homegrown, local terrorists (by) themselves.
During the year we have heard about assaults on muslims (both grown ups and children), on refugee camps, arsons on buildings housing refugees. About threats and assaults facing people that give the refugees a little help. And in Finland as well. The vast territory between IS and US has suddenly become a very thin line, difficult to walk. One of these disgusting stories could be told.
Girl gone, but the memory
It’s not just
a question of IS or US.
It’s not just a question
of justice and knots.
Think of a dozen years
in a muslim girl.
A dozen years against
five grownups.
A dozen years
against hundred and thirty victims
in Paris.
But no, not against. But
for the five Frenchmen, wanting
to beat the little thing up for being
a muslim child, a girl, a woman.
So yes, it’s not a question of
IS or US, but both
in us.
The men in us,
breaking her legs, her arms,
her eyes, her heart.
The gods in us,
ruling by sacrifices,
the dogs in us,
barking at the wrong trees.
This time she had assured she would
manage, home alone
from her ballet lesson.
A tiny distance even for
a twelve year girl.
Just a tiny distance, but
for the five homegrown guys
a big leap.
She trusted the steps mankind took.
She loved the Moomin family books.
She had but a dozen of dreams.
One of them
was to get married
in the Moominworld,
somewhere far away
in a far-away-land,
Nådendal,
Vallis gratiae,
Naantali,
Finland.
Like the end of the world,
finis terrae,
the beginning of a new.
But now, for the moment, tired
and tied to a hospital bed
by the violence of chains
to Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood,
her heart was broken.
Not her mind, yet.
The heart is just a muscle and muscles
cannot beat
the shit out
of open minds.
Eager to be visited by some
foreigners, she has to
get nearer,
nearer to the language of Moomins,
find out the sound.
Tasting words instead of worlds.
The future is still
a little bit huge, more so
than the next month,
next week, next day.
For the moment, that will do.
That will do,
for the next hour.
Small signs are big signs
when you let them shine.
And yes, no human is an ISland.
Should not be.
Should not have been.
That muslim girl,
the sparrow of Paris
she died one day,
this day
she could not make it.
But the language of hope
is forever if we just
want it to be.
Remember that twelve year old
muslim girl,
she is not a question of IS or US.
She is an answer
to all of you
in us.
