Skip to main content

A new jawbone


And he found a new jawbone of an ass and put forth his hand and took it and slew a thousand men therewith


 Judges 16

What someone can do
with something new
can surprise

your eyes open wide
here by your side
you find what’s required

to tackle the task
no need to ask
for much help

just put out your hand
seize the moment and
nothing can stop you

armed with a jawbone
you slew on your own
a thousand men.

                                                           
Who’d have thought that the jaw
of one herbivore
had such power?



Well, it wasn’t any old jaw bone – it was a new one.  I’m not sure how important it was that it happened to be one of an ass, but the narrated story – minimal as it is in other respects – provides us with that particular detail.

‘Found’ is interesting too.  Was he looking – searching for a weapon – or did he just come across that fresh mandible lying in the grass?

And the putting forth of his hand, with its suggestion of a conscious and determined action, after a moment – perhaps even a longer time – of reflection, raises many a question.  Almost thousands.

In short, this short Old Testament sentence is packed with drama while punctuated by absent essentials, not to mention details, exaggerated assertions – along with questions.   

So here we find ourselves, now well into a new year, a new month, indeed a new era, with a new jawbone.   I find it hard to believe (to coin a phrase) that, until recently at least, people – most people, everybody? – believed all that was written in the bible. What an incredible story!

My poem had to conclude with a question. 
As for the underlying question as to what this whole crazy episode means, I can’t help but feel that notwithstanding the massive carnage about which nobody seems much bothered there are some wonderful messages.  For a start, you may surprise yourself as to what you can achieve on your own. And what’s needed may be close at hand, in unexpected form and far more effective than you might have predicted.

With that ultra-succinct description from the bible, my poem had to be short, straight forward and attempt to emulate the curiously matter of fact tone (even if the facts strain credulity).  Of course, there were consequences – but that, as they say, is another story.  I hint at one of these as I see Samson’s wide-open eyes…

But returning to where we started, with the notorious jaw bone, I’m reminded of Churchill (that master of words) and his famous rhyme about jaw and war.  Might it just be that the true power of the jaw is in what it enables: words are our most powerful weapon – even if this one was from an ass?



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We were all together there in a foretime

    I find myself attracted to certain words, and here’s one.  Not a word often heard in modern speech, but perfectly proper and well-used since at least the sixteenth century. I came across it in Seamus Heaney’s Section 3 of Keeping Going in his phrase – We were all together there in a foretime. I imagined hearing in my mind’s ear his attractive rich voice rolling it out.   Foretime. Not just, or simply, the past, but a   foretime . (Interesting, that 'a'.  Not 'the', but 'a'). Fore , from before, so it is of course the past, but with a slightly different twist – an added dimension arising from the other words which use fore, as in forecast, foretell or even forehead, when it somehow also looks ahead, to the future… what lies before us? Foretime, Aftertime… be all that as it may, we’ve been here before, it affected us all then, it’s doing the same now and it’s threatening to overwhelm us in the future.   We were all together there in a for
2 comments
Read more

The Signpost

Here’s a signpost – originally distinctive, being unique and handmade, and now even more so, with the evidence of ageing.   … numbers, distances, which way? While all signposts are interesting in their duty to inform, their presentation of choices and their simple declarative presence, I find this one special. It’s not just that it has much to say in terms of where you actually are, in which direction you might choose to go, how far your destination is (down to quarter mile accuracy) and even if your chosen method of transport is suitable. It’s also special in the simple elegance of its design, with the arms’ supports and the bevelled edges of the main post rising to that unexpected point. But the specialness goes further.  My friend James Ravilious took me there just at this time of year, over twenty years ago.  It was then upright and brilliant white, with crisp black letters. He certainly thought it was special, photographing it lovingly, in May 1988 ( Chawleigh Week Cross –
Post a Comment
Read more

The Three Hares

  The Three Hares We continue on our way running, running, running around held together tip to tip so I can hear what she can hear as well as her. And the other follows me in front of her – we are joined up by our ears so we follow, lead and follow running, running, running around we continue on our way. Running, running, running around – no cause for worry – what's to come has already been. The future's past – watch us here – we're going nowhere – the last is first and first is last. Our present moment sees us still although we seem to race – running, running, running around we continue. On our way running, running, running around hearing your persistent questions – why do you keep on asking? We cannot tell you any more. May you share your senses and find soft silence at your centre which is so close, while you go on running, running, running around. The turning of the year, with the various thoughts about the past and the future that c
2 comments
Read more