The dasrk views of Winston Churchill

The dasrk views of Winston Churchill

Immigration to Britain:
Churchill suggested the motto “Keep England White” when debating the adoption of new laws limiting immigration from the Caribbean.

Mussolini:
Churchill extolled Mussolini – “If I were Italian, I am sure I would have been with you entirely from the beginning” and “what a man [Mussolini] ! I have lost my heart!… Fascism has rendered a service to the entire world”.

On his own people:

Churchill suggested “100,000 degenerate Britons should be forcibly sterilised/others put in labour camps to halt decline of British race”. He also went on to suggest that “for tramps and wastrels there ought to be proper labour colonies where they could be sent”.
“I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against the uncivilized tribes… it would spread a lively terror.” – Churchill on the use of gas in the Middle East and India
Read thesw historical facts on winston Churchill for yourse;f. and decide for yoursef. Each quote can be sourced and each event reserched. As Ash surkar said 2Most of the middle aged men frothing at the mouth about the criticism of winston Churchill have been no nearer the Western Front than a bar in Dordogne. Chief amongst the arch ignoramus of history one Piers Morgan. read theses for yourself and decide. by the way the ten headings were done by the BBC

1. Views on race
In April last year, Labour candidate Benjamin Whittingham tweeted that Churchill was "a racist and white supremacist".
Sir Nicholas Soames, Churchill's grandson, was outraged. And Whittingham's Conservative opponent Ben Wallace labelled the comments "ignorant" and "incredibly insulting". The tweet was deleted and the Labour Party said: "[It] does not represent the view of the Labour Party. He apologises unreservedly if it has caused any offence."
But there have previously been suggestions that Churchill held racist beliefs.
In 1937, he told the Palestine Royal Commission: "I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place."
Churchill certainly believed in racial hierarchies and eugenics, says John Charmley, author of Churchill: The End of Glory. In Churchill's view, white protestant Christians were at the top, above white Catholics, while Indians were higher than Africans, he adds. "Churchill saw himself and Britain as being the winners in a social Darwinian hierarchy."
"The mitigation would be that he wasn't particularly unique in having these views," says Richard Toye, author of Churchill's Empire, "even though there were many others who didn't hold them."
Soames thinks it is ludicrous to attack Churchill. "You're talking about one of the greatest men the world has ever seen, who was a child of the Edwardian age and spoke the language of [it]."
And Churchill's views on race were incomparable to Hitler's murderous interpretation of racial hierarchy, Toye says. "Although Churchill did think that white people were superior, that didn't mean he necessarily thought it was OK to treat non-white people in an inhumane way."
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption British RAF armoured cars and bomber planes on duty in Iraq during the Mesopotamia conflict, 1922

2. Poison gas
Churchill has been criticised for advocating the use of chemical weapons - primarily against Kurds and Afghans.
"I cannot understand this squeamishness about the use of gas," he wrote in a memo during his role as minister for war and air in 1919.
"I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes," he continued.
These quotes have been used by critics such as Noam Chomsky to attack Churchill.
But the controversy is misplaced, says Warren Dockter, a research fellow at the University of Cambridge and the author of Winston Churchill and the Islamic World. "What he was proposing to use in Mesopotamia was lachrymatory gas, which is essentially tear gas, not mustard gas."
Churchill's 1919 memo continued: "The moral effect should be so good that the loss of life should be reduced to a minimum. It is not necessary to use only the most deadly gasses: gasses can be used which cause great inconvenience and would spread a lively terror and yet would leave no serious permanent effect on most of those affected."
In another memo about using gas against Afghans, Dockter says, Churchill questioned why a British soldier could be killed lying wounded on the ground while it was supposedly unfair "to fire a shell which makes the said native sneeze - it really is too silly".
But some still criticise the British air attacks used to quell rebellious tribes in the region.
And it's important to note that he was in favour of using mustard gas against Ottoman troops in WW1, says Dockter, although this was at a time when other nations were using it.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Famine-stricken children in India, 1943

3. Bengal famine
In 1943, India, then still a British possession, experienced a disastrous famine in the north-eastern region of Bengal - sparked by the Japanese occupation of Burma the year before.
At least three million people are believed to have died - and Churchill's actions, or lack thereof, have been the subject of criticism.
Madhusree Mukerjee, author of Churchill's Secret War, has said that despite refusing to meet India's need for wheat, he continued to insist that it exported rice to fuel the war effort.
"[The War Cabinet] ordered the build-up of a stockpile of wheat for feeding European civilians after they had been liberated. So 170,000 tons of Australian wheat bypassed starving India - destined not for consumption but for storage," she said upon release of the book in 2010.
Churchill even appeared to blame the Indians for the famine, claiming they "breed like rabbits".
"It's one of the worst blots on his record," says Toye. "It clearly is the case that it was difficult for people to get him to take the issue seriously."
"Churchill viewed it as a distraction," he explains. Preoccupied with battling Germany in Europe, Churchill didn't want to be bothered by it when people raised the issue.
"We have this image of Churchill being far-sighted and prophetic," says Charmley. "But what he does tragically in the case of the Bengal famine is show absolutely zero advance [since] the Irish famine 100 years earlier."
It was a horrendous event but it needs to be seen within the context of global war, says Packwood.
"Churchill is running a global war at this point and there are always going to be conflicting priorities and demands," he says. "It's an incredibly complex and evolving situation - and he's not always going to get everything right."
Arthur Herman, author of Gandhi & Churchill, has argued that without Churchill the famine would have been worse. Once he was fully aware of the famine's extent, "Churchill and his cabinet sought every way to alleviate the suffering without undermining the war effort", Herman wrote.
It was a failure of prioritisation, says Toye. It's true that Britain's resources were stretched, he says, but that's no excuse given the relatively small effort it would have taken to alleviate the problem.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Churchill on Gandhi: "A seditious lawyer, posing as a fakir"

4. Statements about Gandhi
Churchill had strong views on the man now widely respected for his work in advocating self-determination for India.
"It is alarming and nauseating to see Mr Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir… striding half-naked up the steps of the Vice-regal Palace," Churchill said of his anti-colonialist adversary in 1931.
"Gandhi should not be released on the account of a mere threat of fasting," Churchill told the cabinet on another occasion. "We should be rid of a bad man and an enemy of the Empire if he died."
It's unfashionable today to question Gandhi's non-violent political tactics. He is venerated in much the same way as Churchill is in the UK. But for years he was a threat to Churchill's vision for the British Empire.
"He put himself at the head of a movement of irreconcilable imperialist romantics," wrote Boris Johnson in his recent biography of Churchill. "Die-hard defenders of the Raj and of the God-given right of every pink-jowled Englishman to sit on his veranda and… glory in the possession of India."
"Churchill was very much on the far right of British politics over India," says Charmley. "Even to most Conservatives, let alone Liberals and Labour, Churchill's views on India between 1929 and 1939 were quite abhorrent."
He was vociferous in his opposition to Gandhi, says Toye, and didn't want India to make any moves towards self-government to the extent of opposing his own party's leaders and being generally quite hostile to Hinduism.
Churchill's stance was very much that of a late Victorian imperialist, Charmley adds. "[Churchill] was terribly alarmed that giving the Indians home rule was going to lead to the downfall of the British Empire and the end of civilisation."
Younger Tories like Anthony Eden regarded Churchill with great mistrust during the 1930s because of his association with hard-line right-wingers in the party, he says.
"People sometimes question why on Earth did people not listen to Churchill's warnings about Hitler in the late 1930s," says Charmley, "to which the short answer is that he'd used exactly the same language about Gandhi in the early 1930s."

5. Attitudes towards Jews
In 2012 there were objections to a proposed Churchill Centre in Jerusalem on the basis that he was "no stranger to the latent anti-Semitism of his generation and class".
Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill's official biographer, countered that "he was familiar with the Zionist ideal and supported the idea of a Jewish state".
But being anti-Semitic and a Zionist are not incompatible, says Charmley.
"Churchill with no doubt at all was a fervent Zionist," he says, "a fervent believer in the right of the Jewish people to a state of their own and that state should be in what we then called Palestine."
But he also "shared the low-level casual anti-Semitism of his class and kind", he says. If we judged everyone of that era by the standards of 21st Century political correctness, they'd all be guilty, he notes. "It shouldn't blind us to the bigger picture."
A 1937 unpublished article - supposedly by Churchill - entitled "How the Jews Can Combat Persecution" was discovered in 2007. "It may be that, unwittingly, they are inviting persecution - that they have been partly responsible for the antagonism from which they suffer," it said. "There is the feeling that the Jew is an incorrigible alien, that his first loyalty will always be towards his own race."
But there was immediately a row over the article, with Churchill historians pointing out it was written by journalist Adam Marshall Diston and that it might not have represented Churchill's views at all accurately.
"Casual anti-Semitism was rampant," agrees Dockter, "[but] it's inconceivable to pitch him as anti-Semitic."

In a 1920 article, he wrote: "Some people like Jews and some do not; but no thoughtful man can doubt the fact that they are beyond all question the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has ever appeared in the world."
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, 1874-1965
Image copyright PA
Born 30 November 1874 at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. Attended Harrow and Sandhurst before embarking on army career, seeing action in India, and Sudan
Became Conservative MP in 1900, but in 1904 joined the Liberal Party. Cabinet member from 1908, he was First Lord of the Admiralty from 1911 until the disastrous Dardanelles expedition in early part of WW1. Served on Western Front for a time, before rejoining government from 1917-1929
Opposition to Indian self-rule, warnings about the rise of the Nazis and support for Edward VIII left Churchill politically isolated during 1930s. After WW2 broke out, he replaced Neville Chamberlain as prime minister, where his reputation as inspirational wartime leader was cemented
Lost power in 1945 election but was returned to power in 1951, and continued as prime minister until 1955. Died 24 January 1965 and was given a state funeral

Waiting for Brexot ......

Waiting for "Brexot" ..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot .

 And so it's clear a majority for an amendment that deplores no deal has been passed. But we still stagger to the edge of a precipice.. the truth is simply that the unity of the Tory Party is elevated above all else... meanwhile the spectacle moves on above all we are battered by Brexit overload . And we are all sick at heart...something is rotten in the British state..as tbe Tories vote for a deal that does not exist with a Europe that says it's impossible created by a PM who said a new deal was impossible...psychosis is the order of the day...these are the days of denial.

The blood full moon wanes as the right raves and dies. .So we all look to the future. The hard moronic; vicious Brexuteers begin to realise that you can check out anytime but you can never leave . The party claiming sovereignty gives it all away during the transition period we won't have any say in anything that the EU decide in the months of transition. What is the point any more in this government ? We lose sovereignty so that the 35 headbangers of the lunatic Brexit right lead us Alice like into a perverse and Brechtian wonderland. The truth is that Theresa May can no longer deliver anything any more. She has ruled too long.....the Kippers are dead and the left prepare to assume power A dieing government condemned by ego and the spectre of the Far Right A party of brutality supported by the relics of 16th century Calvinism rules over us. The Tory membership is old bigoted and outnumbered 7 to 1 by Labour. The end comes now , a vibrant left is reborn , and New Labour seem as imaginary as the Unicorn or the Gryphon. As the paradigm shifts and the interpretation changes Winter returns. In other areas sexism, patriarchy misogyny transphobia and gay discrimination are challenged and dissolve into air.. all things change and old certainties are removed.. the wolf moon wanes as old forms break down. This is the return of the repressed...the liberation of the left out.. and an understanding of the nature of change...this is enantiodromia.. the establishment is terrified....and a new world waits to be born...and there is a world to win...a spectre haunts the UK ..

Snowflakes of the Far Right

white fragility

Dictionary result for white fragility

noun

noun: white fragility

discomfort and defensiveness on the part of a white person when confronted by information about racial inequality and injustice.

Word reaches me that the neo fascist rabble who organised a 'rally' in Bangor last saturday that absolutely nobody went to are upset because we ran a story that absolutely nobody went to a 'rally' in Bangor last saturday organised by neo fascist rabble :) https://www.facebook.com/FRWWales/posts/558105524704399

Seems the so called 'North Wales Yellow Vests' spokesperson, the stockport born Caernarfon based Benjamin Jackson, is also peeved because we've pointed out the far right affiliations of their activists - like Benjamin Jackson himself pictured centre under a Union Jack at a far right rally. Or Rhodri Jones pictured here giving a nazi salute and who thinks it's okay to have a picture of a Golliwog on his facebook profile. Or Manchester based Ashlea Robyn, previously banned from facebook for racist abuse and pictured here at an EDL anti immigrant rally. Or the three English Defence League stormtroopers parachuted into Newport from London 4 weeks ago to support Tommy Robinson groupie Vincent Cawthron.Or Carey Roberts the blaenau ffestiniog based holocaust denying neo nazi https://www.facebook.com/FRWWales/posts/542652326249719

We can also reveal that exchanges between some of these far right activists on whatsapp and which have been seen by us indicate they are discussing how they can respond to the wave of anti racist protests which have sprung up against them whenever they've tried to stage public events in Wales - given british fascists penchant for thuggery we think we can guess what 'respond' might be code for .

We have seen trhis approach from the Democratic Football Lads Alliance in Swansea. They love to talk about paying a visit. We all know that these neo Nazi techniques reveal the true bature of these `patriots` . We all know the approach of the street gang now taken into UKip and its ally Tommy Robinson. We all know rthe shards of Krystallnacht

What is ‘white fragility’?

2019  perhaps more than any other year in recent history, has seen an uptick of accusations of oversensitivity from across the political spectrum. Famous men accused (and sometimes convicted) of sexual harassment complain that women are being ‘too sensitive’. Conservative activists accuse college students of being ‘special snowflakes’ who can’t tolerate opposing views. On the left, anti-racist activists accuse white folks of wallowing in ‘white fragility’. But is calling someone out on white fragility from the left the same as calling them a snowflake from the right?
In this blog post, I argue that the term speaks to much more than arguments about appropriate levels of cultural sensitivity, especially in this current socio-political moment. Indeed, the concept of white fragility is useful for understanding the enduring legacy of racism and how it still affects our everyday lives.

An illustrative example of ‘white fragility’

Last week presented us with an illustrative example of white fragility, and its consequences in practice. Plainfield, Indiana police Captain Carri Weber was briefly suspended (though later reinstated), when another officer, Captain Scott Arndt, claimed that she ‘racistly and sexistly slurred’ him. The offense? Weber, who is a white, female officer was conducting a diversity training, and Arndt, a white, male officer disagreed with statistics about the likelihood of transgender people (of color) experiencing police violence. Weber responded ‘cause [of] your white, male privilege, you wouldn’t know’. Arndt later filed a complaint with the department against Weber, claiming that he was the victim of racism and sexism.
Returning to DiAngelo’s discussion of white fragility, Arndt’s behavior in this case is a fairly textbook example of actions taken by folks who are experiencing white fragility. Let’s examine the incident one step at a time.
According to the scholarly data that Weber used in her presentation, transgender people of color are 2.46 times more likely to experience police violence than their white non-transgender counterparts. Arndt’s incredulity about this data in a diversity training setting shows his discomfort with being told about the structural advantages that both men and white folks are more likely to have. After Weber points this out to him, Arndt chooses to leave the stress-inducing situation. After the training, Ardnt proceeds to file a complaint about how he is a victim of discrimination, because Weber pointed out that his experience was likely different than the folks in the data set because of his race and gender.
Approximately 77% of police officers in the US are white, and 88% are male, according to 2015 statistics from the Bureau of Justice. Honestly, it’s pretty bold to claim that you’re the victim of discrimination when over three-quarters of the people who hold your job look like you. Despite being firmly in the demographic majority of police officers with respect to both his race and gender, Ardnt’s actions showed that he was completely unwilling to consider his positionality with respect to the information being presented to him. The diversity training and Weber’s candid response to Arndt’s incredulity about the data were simply too stress-inducing for him to cope with as a white man.
Arndt’s framing of the incident, in which he is the victim, is an example par excellence of white fragility. Instead of meaningfully engaging with the issues around gender and racial differences in citizens’ experiences with law enforcement, Arndt created a dynamic in which he – and indeed white males in general – are the ‘real victims’. And Ardnt’s case is not unique.
White fragility is what allows white Americans, for example, who represent 76% of the country’s millionaires, 84% of its professors, and 96% of Fortune 500 CEOs, to react defensively whenever they are presented with this information, and so to believe that they are systematically victimized because of their racial identity. White fragility is dangerous precisely because it allows individuals with more power to reframe discussions about justice in a way that will only reinforce the power that they already have.

The Plainfield police department is now known across the country for a situation in which one white, male officer felt victimized, instead of for their work trying to address structural inequalities in policing. And that’s what white fragility does: it takes the story away from the victims of discrimination and gives it back to the perpetrators, who then use it as a weapon to defend the unjust status quo.

The Glorious Revolution,,the Conservative Myth

The Glorious Revolution, also called “The Revolution of 1688” and “The Bloodless Revolution,” took place from 1688-1689 in England. It involved the overthrow of the Catholic king James II, who was replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband, William of Orange. Motives for the revolution were complex and included both political and religious concerns. The event ultimately changed how England was governed, giving Parliament more power over the monarchy and planting seeds for the beginnings of a political democracy.

King James II

King James II took the throne in England in 1685, during a time when relations between Catholics and Protestants were tense. There was also considerable friction between the monarchy and the British Parliament.
James, who was Catholic, supported the freedom of worship for Catholics and appointed Catholic officers to the army. He also had close ties with France—a relationship that concerned many of the English people.
In 1687, King James II issued a Declaration of Indulgence, which suspended penal laws against Catholics and granted acceptance of some Protestant dissenters. Later that year, the king formally dissolved his Parliament and attempted to create a new Parliament that would support him unconditionally.
James’s daughter Mary, a Protestant, was the rightful heir to the throne until 1688 when James had a son, James Francis Edward Stuart, whom he announced would be raised Catholic.

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The birth of James’s son changed the line of succession, and many feared a Catholic dynasty in England was imminent. The Whigs, the main group that opposed Catholic succession, were especially outraged.
The king’s elevation of Catholicism, his close relationship with France, his conflict with Parliament and uncertainty over who would succeed James on the English throne led to whispers of a revolt—and ultimately the fall of James II.

William of Orange

In 1688, seven of King James’s peers wrote to the Dutch leader, William of Orange, pledging their allegiance to the prince if he invaded England.
William was already in the process of taking military action against England, and the letter served as an additional propaganda motive.
William of Orange assembled an impressive armada for the invasion and landed in Torbay, Devon, in November 1688.
King James, however, had prepared for military attacks and left London to bring his forces to meet the invading army. Several of James’s own men, including his family members, deserted him and defected to William’s side. In addition to this setback, James’s health was deteriorating.
James decided to retreat back to London on November 23. He soon announced that he was willing to agree to a “free” Parliament but was making plans to flee the country due to concerns for his own safety.
In December, King James made an attempt to escape but was captured. Later that month, he made another attempt and successfully fled the country.

Bill of Rights

In January 1689, the now-famous Convention Parliament met. After significant pressure from William, Parliament agreed to a joint monarchy, with William as king and James’s daughter, Mary, as queen.

The two new rulers accepted more restrictions from Parliament than any previous monarchs, causing an unprecedented shift in the distribution of power throughout the realm.
The king and queen both signed the Declaration of Rights, which became known as the Bill of Rights. This document acknowledged several constitutional principles, including the right for regular Parliaments, free elections and freedom of speech in Parliament. Additionally, it forbade the monarchy from being Catholic.
Many historians believe the Bill of Rights was the first step toward a constitutional monarchy.

Bloodless Revolution 

 

 

The Glorious Revolution is sometimes dubbed the Bloodless Revolution, although this description isn’t entirely accurate.
While there was little bloodshed and violence in England, the revolution led to significant loss of life in Ireland and Scotland.
Catholic historians typically refer to the Glorious Revolution as the “Revolution of 1688,” while Whig historians prefer the phrase “Bloodless Revolution.” The term “Glorious Revolution” was first coined by John Hampden in 1689.

Legacy of the Glorious Revolution

Many historians believe the Glorious Revolution was one of the most important events leading to Britain’s transformation from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. After this event, the monarchy in England would never hold absolute power again.
With the Bill of Rights, the regent’s power was defined, written down, and limited for the first time. Parliament’s function and influence changed dramatically in the years following the revolution.
The event also had an impact on the colonies in North America. The colonists were temporarily freed of strict, anti-Puritan laws after King James was overthrown.
When news of the revolution reached the Americans, several uprisings followed, including the Boston Revolt, Leisler’s Rebellion and the Protestant Revolution in Maryland.
Since the Glorious Revolution, Parliament’s power in Britain has continued to increase, while the monarchy’s influence has waned. There’s no doubt this important event helped set the stage for the United Kingdom’s present-day political system and government.

Sources

The Glorious Revolution, BBC.
The Glorious Revolution of 1688, Economic History Association.
The Glorious Revolution, Parliament.uk.
The 1688 Revolution, The History Learning Site.
How did the Glorious Revolution in England Affect the Colonies? History of Massachusetts Blog.

The Dunciad

The Dunciad, poem by Alexander Pope, first published anonymously in three books in 1728; by 1743, when it appeared in its final form, it had grown to four books. Written largely in iambic pentameter, the poem is a masterpiece of mock-heroic verse.
After Pope had edited the works of William Shakespeare to adapt them to 18th-century tastes, the scholar Lewis Theobald attacked him in Shakespeare Restored (1726). Pope responded in 1728 with the first version of his Dunciad, in which Theobald appears as Tibbald, favourite son of the Goddess of Dullness (Dulness), a suitable hero for what Pope considered the reign of pedantry. A year later Pope published The Dunciad Variorum, in which he expanded the poem and added elaborate false footnotes, appendices, errata, and prefaces, as if the Dunciad itself had fallen into the hands of an artless pedant. Both versions, which were published anonymously, are much more than the vengeance of an aggrieved crank, for Pope’s writing exudes facility, wit, and verve.
Pope did not formally acknowledge his authorship of the Dunciad until 1735, when he included it in a volume of his collected works. In 1742 Pope published The New Dunciad, intended as the Dunciad’s fourth book; in it the empire of the Goddess of Dullness has become universal. That same year the poet laureate Colley Cibber savaged Pope in print; Pope responded by revising the Dunciad so as to replace Theobald with Cibber as the work’s dubious hero. The result, The Dunciad in Four Books (1743), drew together, in revised form, the books and critical apparatus of previous versions.

The Eternal sunlight of the Socialist mind.....

When they tell you that Socialism is not possible and ask where it has ever worked..remind them of socialust ideas that have burst into fruit. Remind them of the NHS free state education and social housing. Remind them of tolerance care for the vulnerable and an approach that simply says we are social beings and that all things are measured by how we relate to others. Remind them that individualism is a myth, none of us live like Robinson Crusoe in splendid isolation. The socialist approach is predicated on being intradependent and aware of our community. The modern libertarian so often mistakes their narcissism for their individuality. They mistake their prejudices for their common sense. They fail to see how their collective experience of supposed indivuduality controls them from the attitudes they have to the clothes they wear. Virtually every one will place on their social media presence pictures of their house, their partner and the things they own. I have seen so many of them claim that Socialism has never worked and yet we have never heard them say what they feel or what hopes they have. They claim that society is a myth and that they simply bring up their family.. Yet they are blind to a system that makes them predictable and trite.

I often find that many of this grouping have poor self awareness, lack the capacity to doubt themselves and have great problems seeing how others experience society. They deny racism because they don't experience it. They deny sexism but do not see how their assumptions are sexist. It's a great shock and truly humbling experience to see your edges, your blind spots and your prejudices.
This week i have read two reports by a dusti gujhed academic, diagnosing personality disorders in two young women. It occurred to me that perhaps it is society that has the personality disorder and that what we are seeing is a response to the society we live in. We are continually told how we must be, what we must look like and what we should think. Why us it that the mist vulnerable are so easily classified as having disorders? Why is that those classified as such are predominately female, of another ethnicity or faith? Those who classify such disorders are people of power, wealth and of an other social class. Could we not ask why those who are more creative, more unsure of certainty and of simple answers are treated so? The term "Alienist" springs to mind and I remember how diversity and difference is more likely to create a whole society. Those who mock hope are the murderers and the abusers of those who seek difference. They fear a different society and they know so little history and ate the least creative.

William Morris, Oscar Wilde Virgina Wolffe...we're the most troubled, the most imaginative and the most able to suggest that another world was possible. For someone to dream of difference means that they must be able to walk in another's shoes and to ask the question... What If? Some months ago I saw a meme that said simply " if you don't fit in fuck off". It sadly said all that was necessary. Oscar Wilde wrote of the soul of man under socialism and how it was the only way for us to truly become who we should be. Capitalism is the personality disorder that affects us all...it reduces us to the price mechanism and the commodity...it creates a matrix of conformity and control. Each crisis of capitalism has been greater than the last. It has not even worked since the crisis of 2008 and as we reach closer and closer to the next we realise that if automisation or robotics do not help us then humanity faces a future of barbarism.

Socialism is not a dream if we cannot reach it then unfetted growth and the exhaustion of materials will rest of us all. The question of achieving socialism is now a necessity not a dream. The narcissistic forces of the right threaten us all with destruction. Capitalism has never worked, it's a process not a system. Socialism is a system and it's growth has been a process of self awareness and perception. It is either Socialism or Barbarism and there is no alternative. Those who ask the question where has socialism ever worked would be better to ask where has capitalism ever worked? The centrists miss the point and the right has never seen the reality of capitalism. They hide within their mythical castles that gave never existed. As they say when you are neurotic you build castles in the air and when you are psychotic you move in. The narcissist have been living there for a long time. Socialism is the only therapy possible to build a sane, balanced and authentic sustainable society. Capitalism is the psychosis and it's adherents are hhose possessed by it's delusions. It's time to see the truth and understand the plague that affects us..

On the Eve...of the next vote..Monday thoughts....

MONDAY..political thoughts ...I finally got round to watch channel 4's "Brexit the uncivil war'. It was part paradoy but very insightful. It clearly showed why the centrist campaign of Remain failed. It also made me think that the Peoples Vote campaign is making exactly the same mistakes. Leave won because it recognised that millions of people felt left out by the centrists who had ruled for so long. Brown's Cleggs and Cameron's advisors had the same assumptions and axioms of thefree market and of the same paradigm. Leave won because it engaged the left behind and through the works of Cambridge Analytica it saw links that no one else had seen. It was clear that leave behaved with Machaevellian cynicism. It did not need to access racism as that was being accessed by the Farage Banks campaign. Leave merely needed to access others to get itself over the victory line. There was an invented scene where the Director of Leave had a drink with the Director of Remain. Both concluded that they both were the problem.. Leave wanted to smash the system in a Nietzche like way and the other preserve the centrist paradigm. Both left fearing what they had made in their deadly game of alchemy. Of course the biopic showed that Cambridge Analytica were using Brexit as the petrie dish for the Trump campaign. And I have a sickening thought that perhaps the horrendous murder of Jo Cox prevented a 60 to 40 victory for leave. I suspect that a second referendum would have leave winning by 20% . The centre has learnt nothing. And it was a clear indication that the Clinton campaign was defeated in the same way.. perhaps those clinging to the ideas of the Peoples Vote campaign could reflect on these observations.

Yet out of these two campaigns came the astonishing contribution of Jeremy Corbyn in June 2017. The centrist assumptions have been defeated and a Socialist Labour Party has emerged. The centre and the superstructure of the state are thrown everything at him and yet in all these situations a solid 40% support a radical socialust programme. May exists in power simply to hold up Labour's seizure of it. I feel the paradigm shift. Whatever They tell you know that Labour's membership is rising by a thousand week.. It's not if Corbyn wins it's now win.. The Maybot uses project fear, hints are made about possible martial law and preparations for good and medical shortages. It will effect some but a clear majority know what is happening.

The problem comes from the xenophobic and racist assumptions of Banks and Farage.. It is now mutating under the dark alchemy of Tommy Robinson and Gerrard Batten..When the left comes to power we will be facing the hard far right approach of the street gangs . We have seen how Diane Abbot has been treated and that is a dry run for the coming general election and resistance to the future Corbyn government. The middle of the road is irrelevant and we are nearing the time of choice. In the balanced atmosphere of the general election where proper balanced reports are enacted...and the Corbyn campaign reaches its apogee Labour will add 7 to 8 percentage points to it's support. There is a mighty reckoning coming and it won't be long or far away. The unintended consequences of Brexit and Trump will be a Corbyn majority government. The last resistance to socialism will be from the far right ...but let us remember from history that it was the German Centre Party that voted for the enabling laws giving Hitler final power. It was also the industrialists who backed Hitler wanting him to eliminate the Left. We learn much from history and there is nothing new under the sun....The next election will not just be about Brexit and millions know it....We are at a point where only a Labour government could negotiate a soft Brexit and then put that to the electorate. Time is running out and democracy is at risk. The Far right is gathering and the stench of Weimar is in my nostrils..

Of men and power.. fear and inadequacy

https://eingwlad.wales/NewsPortal/index.php/2019/01/20/the-politically-correct-bully-boy-world/?fbclid=IwAR2ctsA8yXhJ3T3wWvXHRJ6Wc2Ykr4H6kCRuhQoMzSi7Yq1vDp5u3mMNtYI

 The defence of the bully is always to allege that they are the victims of it.....its the oldest denial and projection there has ever been......the reality of Ein Gwlad

This week I have seen men claim that patriarchy is a myth, that feminism is a myth and that it "takes two to tango". I have seen everything said except an analysis of their own male perceptions. In most cases the men who argued in this way were mainly over 60 . They had never examined their assumptions; identity or psychology. They could not do it they did not know how, and they did not see power or it's constructs. Rather like the white rightwing male bluekippers who see no racism or sexism or transphobia. In the next generation my own prejudices and assumptions will be examined and challenged and i hope that my grandchildren will understand that I too was a product of my time.
The real difference is whether we understand that we are all prejudiced and that 'common sense" is just a statistical average of the prejudices of the time.

Many men cannot see that the behaviour of the rich and the powerful men is simply about exploitation and commoditization of sexuality . These rich and powerful men do this in other ways as well by forcing down wages and promoting cheap labour. We are all victims of their power and it is not about choice. It's about no choice. The libertarians will claim it's about both sides knowing the score. But how could that be possible without an equality of power and influence. There is no equivalence between the powerless women and the male captains of industry. We have seen how this week how Dyson has behaved. And we have heard Jacob Rees Mogg support it. Yet this is the man who gas never changed a nappy and has a nanny.

I have no problem with the sexuality or sexual behaviour of consenting adults on terms of equality. Power over others leads to pornography and exploitatation.Power is the key to making us all into objects of sexual use or of cheap labour. We are all used by these men whoever we are.
Eroticism is a celebration of our sexualities. It is a relationship between equals and encourages us to celebrate desire, passion and pleasure. It has parallels to being creative, artistic and curious. The bitter old men who condemn the campaign against sexual harassment and name it a witch hunt are stunted, fear the feminine, sensuality and the other.. they don't even know what they are missing.. they are the prudes and the damaged ones. These are the men who would have suppressed the sexual abuse investigations and are severely homophobic and transphobic. These men are so perfectly represented by males like Farage and Trump . These are the vile men of straw who deserve our condemnation. We have men lime this in Wales. Reading the portal of Ein Gwlad and the 'masculine' views of the big Gor the ideas of Jac o the North we see the same approach and outliook...pass me rhe sick bucket..

West central by election in Porthcawl Town Council

West central by election in Porthcawl

Today sees a by election in the Porthcawl West Central ward of the Porthcawl Town Council . The seat was held in 2016 by the late Chris Smanker Smart, former Tory, Ukip and Ind. I understand that there has been already 400 postal votes cast. labour were 24 votes behind Smart last time. Ciuld well be an interesting result . Rather an unfortunate name for the Liberal Democrat candidate ....... 

-https://www.bridgend.gov.uk/media/5198/january-2019-notice-of-poll-west-central-ward.pdf?fbclid=IwAR25GIUfzXRkqexUp2u-Tg88Sp_-UvCGxS1_PT3bZ4dXyiw2Q2-MLmLGhdY

The Labour Candidate Alana Davies  is a previous mayor of Porthcawl and a former parliamentary candidate.

On being in the European socialist resistance

I grow tired of the whining of the bluekippers when they claim not to be anti European. They are simply against all thought from the Renaissance, through the Enlightenment and onto the rebellions if the 20th century. The leave outlook is simply a disguise for their ignorance, xenophobia and the knowledge of history. Their outlook is white, right and male sealed in a prison of binary oppodition.Being European is quite clearly about not being simply a remainer and being pro EU. That outlook is reductive and simplistic and lacks nuance. In the end it comes down to who you are really deep inside. Its the emotion for me of seeing my son and seeing my partner. It comes down to reaching outwards, it's about knowing the history, literature and culture of Europe. It's about experiences of travelling, knowing the smell of the air in the countries of Europe, it's about smiling about our own odd little ways and theirs. It's about Florence, it's about knowing Dante, Petrarch and Boccacio it's about the smell in the Cistine chapel and the hot warm sand in Sicily as you look across the African sea.

It's knowing that there is more than one book, that there is no us and them. It's about knowing that Tom Paine prior to his pamphlet “Common Sense” reminded the English that they were always part of Europe, its about knowing that Europeans want equal access to knowledge and education. It's about knowing that the French think one way, the Germans another, it's about knowing that the Magna Carta was imposed by French Knights, and the Glorious Revolution by a Dutch Army, and that Christmas Trees were a Victorian tradition tradition that came from Germany. It's about Goethe and knowing about the demons of Faust. It's about knowing that Chaucer travelled in Europe. As did the Romantic poets fleeing a narrow bigoted "stagnant fen" of a Tory government. Keats died in Rome, Byron in Greece. It was Europe that inspired the reforms of the 19th Century .
It's about knowing that even if you have done wrong, your argument is still as important and emotional and uplifting. It's about knowing that we are all immigrants, that we all came out of Africa, that our ancestors were all economic migrants, that James Dyson that great saint of the Brexiteers refused to place his factory in Wales and that now getting your country back means the freedom to relocate to Singapore and the promise of even cheaper wages and costs.

It's about knowing and feeling in your heart, tolerance, understanding for the refugee, the victim of domestic abuse, the broken and the outcast. It's about daring to think in new ways it's about crossing over to new solutions and new perspectives. It's about not liking self assurance, those who are blaming the other, the little Englander and the simplistic Kipper analysis or the Daily Mail.
It's about seeing how Shakespeare was influenced by those European ideas stretching back to the Greeks. It's about seeing how the latest Edition of Big Brother shows how important the works of Freud, Nietzche and Darwin are. It's about celebrating both popular and high culture and finally its about seeing how good it is to see Wales win the match and thrash England.. it's about knowing that the Glyndwr rebellion was part of a European backdrop. It's about knowing that the UK is a country of numerous nation's and not an English state. It's about appreciating that Nietzsche was not a Nazi and that Margaret Thatcher was no friend of the Welsh. It's about seeing situations with new lenses and new filters. It's about understanding that we make new wines in both new and old vessels. It's about seeing the Mediterranean Sea and smelling the air. It's about the Friday feeling as the x6 drops me in Glanrhyd. And finally its about possibilities, hope and respect. That is why I am Welsh and European by choice and why I will not give up and except this vile Brexit and it's clusters of prejudice...just as in 1975 the leavers did not give up. It's about running away when in Europe from the leavers wearing white socks with sandals.. and explaining that Wales is not England...its also about not excepting the narrow pro÷business model of a certain section of the remainers with its bland centralised ersatz of liberal democracy. It's about not excepting their economic policy that caused 2008. It's about the Europe of Marx, Gramschi, and Rosa Luxembourg. Long ago she talked of "true freedom being the freedom to think differently. It was Luxembourg who accused Lenin of creating a "nightwatchman state" and talked of the spontaneity of revolution. Her criticism of Lenin could equally apply to the theocratic fantasy state of the ERG and of the authoritarian attitudes of the bluekippers afraid of everything different as they experience their ontigical insecurity locked in the aspic of conformity.

Its about how by looking at the threat of Isis, that we do not forget the evil and poison of the far right. Its about what will come next now we are to leave. Its about the fact that the majority of Brexiteers worship the “free market” and the privatisation of the NHS.Look at Farage, Johnson and Gove and my head rather than my heart is convinced...its about thinking clearly ; reading widely and avoiding the Daily Mail and the Express. It's about the shame and regret at the intolerance; bigotry and ignorance of so many of your fellow subjects...and knowing historically that there is no such thing as a British citizen. rather than a British subject.and also knowing historically why...."if a clod be washed away, Europe is the less"... As the bus crawls down the bypass towards Morriston in the darkness of a late January morning I remember another morning sailing down the Grand Canal in Venice as the Sun rose over marble of its buildings and was reflected in the water.. I will not go into the Kipper darkness and the the theocracy of Jacob Rees Mogg...I am in the European Resistance. I hear the music of the "Ode to Joy" as celebration and not as the music played reductively as the waiting signature on the phone system of the DWP. In essence this reduction perfectly encapsulates the difference of understanding truly a European outlook free of both the reductive categories beloved of kippers of either being remain or leave. The true distinction is far more essentially realised. in the phrase of Shakespeare's " like Hyperion to a Satyr" And it certainly not the Europe of Merkel, Macron, Clegg or Cable. Clegg the remainer has fled to Silicon valley and Lawson the leaver to France .The Europe to come is of Varoufakis, Corbyn, Melanchron and Zizek and of Socialism. A Europe that is multi racial, multi ethnic and of multiple faiths and philosophies.. .and when we return it will be to a Socialist Europe...I might just live long enough to see it...

On being on the Left.

On being on the left......The dead end nature of the political right and it's inability to understand far right terrorists... it tells us much of the their thoughts..they never join up the dots they are simply not used to seeing patterns in society, in psychology and in culture. The right never produce comedians who criticise large institutions and corporations.

The left form a critique of powerful born Ibstitutions but the narcissism of the right mock individuals of particular sexualities, ethnicities and faiths. The right promote the individual and then projects this prejudice onto the group. They do not support groups, promote soludarity or strengthen resolve. The right because of its narcissism does not understand that it's own prejudices are not it's liberties and rights.. it goes on to conclude that any right wing terrorist attack is caused by lone wolves and the mentally disturbed. If anyone is involved in a terrorist attack who has a brown skin then it is the fault of all Muslims and they call on all Muslims to condemn them. They condemn paedophiles who happen to be Muslim but do not point out that Jimmy Saville was white and nominally a Christian. They do not call it radicalisation because their lens is distorted and because they are white they see it differently. They do not understand their "white fragility" and their sense of ontological insecurity. They don't see the similarities between Islamic terrorism and themselves. They do not see that in both cases a group of men seek simple and totally clear expressions of meaning.
They fear women, gay peopĺe, trans people and the left wing activist. They do not understand history, social change and the nature of the social sciences. They do not know about Mosley, Franco and Mussolini . They do not know that the alt right killed millions in Nazi Germany last time ..they do not even know that the Nazis were the alt right. They talk about Christian values but don't appreciate the difference between Christ and the history of the Christian church . They have no such problem over the difference between Marx and Soviet history. They have great difficulty understanding intention and out come. They do not know that our mathematics are Islamic in origin.

They don't know that the Old Testament is more violent than anything in the Koran. They do not know what Sarah 109 is about or what Elijah and the bear did to the children who laughed at him. They do not understand that we change our mind every few years on who we vote for and yet Brexit is for ever. They do not see that debate is essential and that change happens to us all. They do not remember tbat the leave campaign never gave up in 1975. Yet they expect the remain campaign to give up now. The do not realise that the right producers very few philisophers and creative writers and poets or indeed peoe who see new patterns or pissibilities.

Nietzche mocked the conservative and the narrow thinker..Bernard Shaw.said that all change was caused by the unreasonable person refusing to except the domination of the world. The right, the conservative fear constant change in self, perception and psychology.. and so they do not understand. The broflakes of the right except the present as the eternal, they avoid the possible and they miss so much both for themselves and others.

The right is limited, fails to understand, looks back to an imagined past and not a possible future....creativity dies within and fears are denied and hidden.. projection and displacement is everywhere and placed upon the other.. and prejudice is not within them it's justified as tbeir right not to read, think or apply new approaches.

The right leads us to a dead end for every generation. It's narrow, unyielding and offers scant hope and cheer. The left is about possibility, reform and hope...dont get fooled again...the new boss is the same as the old boss.. but the right won't tell you that.. They want you to know your place and believe in your betters. Wake up and smell the coffee..

Eloisa to Abelard Philosophy, sexual passion and Alexander Pope

 

Eloisa to Abelard

By Alexander Pope

In these deep solitudes and awful cells,

Where heav'nly-pensive contemplation dwells,

And ever-musing melancholy reigns;

What means this tumult in a vestal's veins?

Why rove my thoughts beyond this last retreat?

Why feels my heart its long-forgotten heat?

Yet, yet I love!—From Abelard it came,

And Eloisa yet must kiss the name.

Dear fatal name! rest ever unreveal'd,

Nor pass these lips in holy silence seal'd.

Hide it, my heart, within that close disguise,

Where mix'd with God's, his lov'd idea lies:

O write it not, my hand—the name appears

Already written—wash it out, my tears!

In vain lost Eloisa weeps and prays,

Her heart still dictates, and her hand obeys.

Relentless walls! whose darksome round contains

Repentant sighs, and voluntary pains:

Ye rugged rocks! which holy knees have worn;

Ye grots and caverns shagg'd with horrid thorn!

Shrines! where their vigils pale-ey'd virgins keep,

And pitying saints, whose statues learn to weep!

Though cold like you, unmov'd, and silent grown,

I have not yet forgot myself to stone.

All is not Heav'n's while Abelard has part,

Still rebel nature holds out half my heart;

Nor pray'rs nor fasts its stubborn pulse restrain,

Nor tears, for ages, taught to flow in vain.

Soon as thy letters trembling I unclose,

That well-known name awakens all my woes.

Oh name for ever sad! for ever dear!

Still breath'd in sighs, still usher'd with a tear.

I tremble too, where'er my own I find,

Some dire misfortune follows close behind.

Line after line my gushing eyes o'erflow,

Led through a sad variety of woe:

Now warm in love, now with'ring in thy bloom,

Lost in a convent's solitary gloom!

There stern religion quench'd th' unwilling flame,

There died the best of passions, love and fame.

Yet write, oh write me all, that I may join

Griefs to thy griefs, and echo sighs to thine.

Nor foes nor fortune take this pow'r away;

And is my Abelard less kind than they?

Tears still are mine, and those I need not spare,

Love but demands what else were shed in pray'r;

No happier task these faded eyes pursue;

To read and weep is all they now can do.

Then share thy pain, allow that sad relief;

Ah, more than share it! give me all thy grief.

Heav'n first taught letters for some wretch's aid,

Some banish'd lover, or some captive maid;

They live, they speak, they breathe what love inspires,

Warm from the soul, and faithful to its fires,

The virgin's wish without her fears impart,

Excuse the blush, and pour out all the heart,

Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul,

And waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole.

Thou know'st how guiltless first I met thy flame,

When Love approach'd me under Friendship's name;

My fancy form'd thee of angelic kind,

Some emanation of th' all-beauteous Mind.

Those smiling eyes, attemp'ring ev'ry day,

Shone sweetly lambent with celestial day.

Guiltless I gaz'd; heav'n listen'd while you sung;

And truths divine came mended from that tongue.

From lips like those what precept fail'd to move?

Too soon they taught me 'twas no sin to love.

Back through the paths of pleasing sense I ran,

Nor wish'd an Angel whom I lov'd a Man.

Dim and remote the joys of saints I see;

Nor envy them, that heav'n I lose for thee.

How oft, when press'd to marriage, have I said,

Curse on all laws but those which love has made!

Love, free as air, at sight of human ties,

Spreads his light wings, and in a moment flies,

Let wealth, let honour, wait the wedded dame,

August her deed, and sacred be her fame;

Before true passion all those views remove,

Fame, wealth, and honour! what are you to Love?

The jealous God, when we profane his fires,

Those restless passions in revenge inspires;

And bids them make mistaken mortals groan,

Who seek in love for aught but love alone.

Should at my feet the world's great master fall,

Himself, his throne, his world, I'd scorn 'em all:

Not Caesar's empress would I deign to prove;

No, make me mistress to the man I love;

If there be yet another name more free,

More fond than mistress, make me that to thee!

Oh happy state! when souls each other draw,

When love is liberty, and nature, law:

All then is full, possessing, and possess'd,

No craving void left aching in the breast:

Ev'n thought meets thought, ere from the lips it part,

And each warm wish springs mutual from the heart.

This sure is bliss (if bliss on earth there be)

And once the lot of Abelard and me.

Alas, how chang'd! what sudden horrors rise!

A naked lover bound and bleeding lies!

Where, where was Eloise? her voice, her hand,

Her poniard, had oppos'd the dire command.

Barbarian, stay! that bloody stroke restrain;

The crime was common, common be the pain.

I can no more; by shame, by rage suppress'd,

Let tears, and burning blushes speak the rest.

Canst thou forget that sad, that solemn day,

When victims at yon altar's foot we lay?

Canst thou forget what tears that moment fell,

When, warm in youth, I bade the world farewell?

As with cold lips I kiss'd the sacred veil,

The shrines all trembl'd, and the lamps grew pale:

Heav'n scarce believ'd the conquest it survey'd,

And saints with wonder heard the vows I made.

Yet then, to those dread altars as I drew,

Not on the Cross my eyes were fix'd, but you:

Not grace, or zeal, love only was my call,

And if I lose thy love, I lose my all.

Come! with thy looks, thy words, relieve my woe;

Those still at least are left thee to bestow.

Still on that breast enamour'd let me lie,

Still drink delicious poison from thy eye,

Pant on thy lip, and to thy heart be press'd;

Give all thou canst—and let me dream the rest.

Ah no! instruct me other joys to prize,

With other beauties charm my partial eyes,

Full in my view set all the bright abode,

And make my soul quit Abelard for God.

Ah, think at least thy flock deserves thy care,

Plants of thy hand, and children of thy pray'r.

From the false world in early youth they fled,

By thee to mountains, wilds, and deserts led.

You rais'd these hallow'd walls; the desert smil'd,

And Paradise was open'd in the wild.

No weeping orphan saw his father's stores

Our shrines irradiate, or emblaze the floors;

No silver saints, by dying misers giv'n,

Here brib'd the rage of ill-requited heav'n:

But such plain roofs as piety could raise,

And only vocal with the Maker's praise.

In these lone walls (their days eternal bound)

These moss-grown domes with spiry turrets crown'd,

Where awful arches make a noonday night,

And the dim windows shed a solemn light;

Thy eyes diffus'd a reconciling ray,

And gleams of glory brighten'd all the day.

But now no face divine contentment wears,

'Tis all blank sadness, or continual tears.

See how the force of others' pray'rs I try,

(O pious fraud of am'rous charity!)

But why should I on others' pray'rs depend?

Come thou, my father, brother, husband, friend!

Ah let thy handmaid, sister, daughter move,

And all those tender names in one, thy love!

The darksome pines that o'er yon rocks reclin'd

Wave high, and murmur to the hollow wind,

The wand'ring streams that shine between the hills,

The grots that echo to the tinkling rills,

The dying gales that pant upon the trees,

The lakes that quiver to the curling breeze;

No more these scenes my meditation aid,

Or lull to rest the visionary maid.

But o'er the twilight groves and dusky caves,

Long-sounding aisles, and intermingled graves,

Black Melancholy sits, and round her throws

A death-like silence, and a dread repose:

Her gloomy presence saddens all the scene,

Shades ev'ry flow'r, and darkens ev'ry green,

Deepens the murmur of the falling floods,

And breathes a browner horror on the woods.

Yet here for ever, ever must I stay;

Sad proof how well a lover can obey!

Death, only death, can break the lasting chain;

And here, ev'n then, shall my cold dust remain,

Here all its frailties, all its flames resign,

And wait till 'tis no sin to mix with thine.

Ah wretch! believ'd the spouse of God in vain,

Confess'd within the slave of love and man.

Assist me, Heav'n! but whence arose that pray'r?

Sprung it from piety, or from despair?

Ev'n here, where frozen chastity retires,

Love finds an altar for forbidden fires.

I ought to grieve, but cannot what I ought;

I mourn the lover, not lament the fault;

I view my crime, but kindle at the view,

Repent old pleasures, and solicit new;

Now turn'd to Heav'n, I weep my past offence,

Now think of thee, and curse my innocence.

Of all affliction taught a lover yet,

'Tis sure the hardest science to forget!

How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense,

And love th' offender, yet detest th' offence?

How the dear object from the crime remove,

Or how distinguish penitence from love?

Unequal task! a passion to resign,

For hearts so touch'd, so pierc'd, so lost as mine.

Ere such a soul regains its peaceful state,

How often must it love, how often hate!

How often hope, despair, resent, regret,

Conceal, disdain—do all things but forget.

But let Heav'n seize it, all at once 'tis fir'd;

Not touch'd, but rapt; not waken'd, but inspir'd!

Oh come! oh teach me nature to subdue,

Renounce my love, my life, myself—and you.

Fill my fond heart with God alone, for he

Alone can rival, can succeed to thee.

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!

The world forgetting, by the world forgot.

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!

Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;

Labour and rest, that equal periods keep;

"Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;"

Desires compos'd, affections ever ev'n,

Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to Heav'n.

Grace shines around her with serenest beams,

And whisp'ring angels prompt her golden dreams.

For her th' unfading rose of Eden blooms,

And wings of seraphs shed divine perfumes,

For her the Spouse prepares the bridal ring,

For her white virgins hymeneals sing,

To sounds of heav'nly harps she dies away,

And melts in visions of eternal day.

Far other dreams my erring soul employ,

Far other raptures, of unholy joy:

When at the close of each sad, sorrowing day,

Fancy restores what vengeance snatch'd away,

Then conscience sleeps, and leaving nature free,

All my loose soul unbounded springs to thee.

Oh curs'd, dear horrors of all-conscious night!

How glowing guilt exalts the keen delight!

Provoking Daemons all restraint remove,

And stir within me every source of love.

I hear thee, view thee, gaze o'er all thy charms,

And round thy phantom glue my clasping arms.

I wake—no more I hear, no more I view,

The phantom flies me, as unkind as you.

I call aloud; it hears not what I say;

I stretch my empty arms; it glides away.

To dream once more I close my willing eyes;

Ye soft illusions, dear deceits, arise!

Alas, no more—methinks we wand'ring go

Through dreary wastes, and weep each other's woe,

Where round some mould'ring tower pale ivy creeps,

And low-brow'd rocks hang nodding o'er the deeps.

Sudden you mount, you beckon from the skies;

Clouds interpose, waves roar, and winds arise.

I shriek, start up, the same sad prospect find,

And wake to all the griefs I left behind.

For thee the fates, severely kind, ordain

A cool suspense from pleasure and from pain;

Thy life a long, dead calm of fix'd repose;

No pulse that riots, and no blood that glows.

Still as the sea, ere winds were taught to blow,

Or moving spirit bade the waters flow;

Soft as the slumbers of a saint forgiv'n,

And mild as opening gleams of promis'd heav'n.

Come, Abelard! for what hast thou to dread?

The torch of Venus burns not for the dead.

Nature stands check'd; Religion disapproves;

Ev'n thou art cold—yet Eloisa loves.

Ah hopeless, lasting flames! like those that burn

To light the dead, and warm th' unfruitful urn.

What scenes appear where'er I turn my view?

The dear ideas, where I fly, pursue,

Rise in the grove, before the altar rise,

Stain all my soul, and wanton in my eyes.

I waste the matin lamp in sighs for thee,

Thy image steals between my God and me,

Thy voice I seem in ev'ry hymn to hear,

With ev'ry bead I drop too soft a tear.

When from the censer clouds of fragrance roll,

And swelling organs lift the rising soul,

One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight,

Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight:

In seas of flame my plunging soul is drown'd,

While altars blaze, and angels tremble round.

While prostrate here in humble grief I lie,

Kind, virtuous drops just gath'ring in my eye,

While praying, trembling, in the dust I roll,

And dawning grace is op'ning on my soul:

Come, if thou dar'st, all charming as thou art!

Oppose thyself to Heav'n; dispute my heart;

Come, with one glance of those deluding eyes

Blot out each bright idea of the skies;

Take back that grace, those sorrows, and those tears;

Take back my fruitless penitence and pray'rs;

Snatch me, just mounting, from the blest abode;

Assist the fiends, and tear me from my God!

No, fly me, fly me, far as pole from pole;

Rise Alps between us! and whole oceans roll!

Ah, come not, write not, think not once of me,

Nor share one pang of all I felt for thee.

Thy oaths I quit, thy memory resign;

Forget, renounce me, hate whate'er was mine.

Fair eyes, and tempting looks (which yet I view!)

Long lov'd, ador'd ideas, all adieu!

Oh Grace serene! oh virtue heav'nly fair!

Divine oblivion of low-thoughted care!

Fresh blooming hope, gay daughter of the sky!

And faith, our early immortality!

Enter, each mild, each amicable guest;

Receive, and wrap me in eternal rest!

See in her cell sad Eloisa spread,

Propp'd on some tomb, a neighbour of the dead.

In each low wind methinks a spirit calls,

And more than echoes talk along the walls.

Here, as I watch'd the dying lamps around,

From yonder shrine I heard a hollow sound.

"Come, sister, come!" (it said, or seem'd to say)

"Thy place is here, sad sister, come away!

Once like thyself, I trembled, wept, and pray'd,

Love's victim then, though now a sainted maid:

But all is calm in this eternal sleep;

Here grief forgets to groan, and love to weep,

Ev'n superstition loses ev'ry fear:

For God, not man, absolves our frailties here."

I come, I come! prepare your roseate bow'rs,

Celestial palms, and ever-blooming flow'rs.

Thither, where sinners may have rest, I go,

Where flames refin'd in breasts seraphic glow:

Thou, Abelard! the last sad office pay,

And smooth my passage to the realms of day;

See my lips tremble, and my eye-balls roll,

Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul!

Ah no—in sacred vestments may'st thou stand,

The hallow'd taper trembling in thy hand,

Present the cross before my lifted eye,

Teach me at once, and learn of me to die.

Ah then, thy once-lov'd Eloisa see!

It will be then no crime to gaze on me.

See from my cheek the transient roses fly!

See the last sparkle languish in my eye!

Till ev'ry motion, pulse, and breath be o'er;

And ev'n my Abelard be lov'd no more.

O Death all-eloquent! you only prove

What dust we dote on, when 'tis man we love.

Then too, when fate shall thy fair frame destroy,

(That cause of all my guilt, and all my joy)

In trance ecstatic may thy pangs be drown'd,

Bright clouds descend, and angels watch thee round,

From op'ning skies may streaming glories shine,

And saints embrace thee with a love like mine.

May one kind grave unite each hapless name,

And graft my love immortal on thy fame!

Then, ages hence, when all my woes are o'er,

When this rebellious heart shall beat no more;

If ever chance two wand'ring lovers brings

To Paraclete's white walls and silver springs,

O'er the pale marble shall they join their heads,

And drink the falling tears each other sheds;

Then sadly say, with mutual pity mov'd,

"Oh may we never love as these have lov'd!"

From the full choir when loud Hosannas rise,

And swell the pomp of dreadful sacrifice,

Amid that scene if some relenting eye

Glance on the stone where our cold relics lie,

Devotion's self shall steal a thought from Heav'n,

One human tear shall drop and be forgiv'n.

And sure, if fate some future bard shall join

In sad similitude of griefs to mine,

Condemn'd whole years in absence to deplore,

And image charms he must behold no more;

Such if there be, who loves so long, so well;

Let him our sad, our tender story tell;

The well-sung woes will soothe my pensive ghost;

He best can paint 'em, who shall feel 'em most.