I Come and Stand at Every Door
by Nazim Hikmet
I come and stand at every door
But no one hears my silent tread
I knock and yet remain unseen
For I am dead, for I am dead.
I’m only seven although I died
In Hiroshima long ago
I’m seven now as I was then
When children die they do not grow.
My hair was scorched by swirling flame
My eyes grew dim, my eyes grew blind
Death came and turned my bones to dust
And that was scattered by the wind.
I need no fruit, I need no rice
I need no sweet, nor even bread
I ask for nothing for myself
For I am dead, for I am dead.
All that I ask is that for peace
You fight today, you fight today
So that the children of this world
May live and grow and laugh and play.
Anti-nukes priest here readies for next arrest
By Bill McClellan, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, August 3, 2009
Carl Kabat (right) will turn 76 in October, and he figures to be in jail again by then. In fact, he’s headed to Colorado today to commit a crime, the same crime he’s been committing for the last 25 years. He intends to attack a missile silo. He’s a Roman Catholic priest involved in the Plowshares movement, which is named after the passage from Isaiah: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.”
He was resting Sunday, preparing for the long drive today. I visited him at a home owned by the Catholic Workers on the city’s near north side. We sat at a picnic table in the backyard. He was wearing a green and white pullover shirt and a pair of tattered shorts. I asked if he ever wore his Roman collar.
“When I break the law,” he said, and then he laughed. He seemed to be in a very good mood.