Martyn Joseph was born for this

This morning I received the new free CD from Martyn Joseph's Passport Q.

http://www.martynjoseph.com/

Much of this was recorded on the last tour when I was fortunate to hear him at The Point in Cardiff. That night I felt that I had witnessed someone who had truly found their vocation. I don't just mean they had found the right job for them, I mean here was someone who had been created to do exactly what he was doing ... and it sounded good, albeit with a typical MJ melancholy. This is especially so on the new song written to remember the death of five young sisters following an Israeli attack in Gaza.

The lyrics are as follows;

This is not the place for vengeance

Not a place for battle cries

This is no rally it’s a funeral

For five sisters lives

Every day I watched them growing

In the night I watched them breathe

But it only takes a second

Five sisters gone

We walk we breathe we are not animals

Though you treat us like we are

I never fired a rocket sir at anyone

But you may have pushed too far

The propaganda of the leaders

Making speeches heads held high

I want them standing by this graveside

Where five sisters lie
Every day…

Take away a man's water

Build upon his land

Raise a mighty wall around him

What is it you don’t understand?

Make his children walk in squalor

With only night stars for a view

Then the rage within that helplessness

One day comes back at you

But this is not the place for vengeance

Not a place for battle cries

This is no rally it’s a funeral

For five sisters lives

Every day…

One day I’ll buy a rocket

And I will aim it at the sky

Celebrate in the light of a thousand colours

I pray, peace and justice in our time
For five sisters
Too late for my five daughters
Tahir, Ikram, Samar, Dina and Jawaher Balousha

As if this wasn't down beat enough I am finishing off the novel Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson ... it is beautifully but sometimes savagely written ... bleak and disturbing ... the chill of the winter setting and the desolation of the characters seeps into your being as you read.

It's a good job it was a sunny day overlooking the park

I can only take so much!