The following poem was left by U2 frontman Bono in the King David Hotel's guest book earlier this month (via BuzzFeed):
In Jerusalem, hope springs eternal
Hope is like a faithful dog
sometimes she runs ahead of me to check the future,
to sniff it out and then I call to her:
Hope, Hope, come here, and she comes to me.
I pet her,
she eats out of my hand and
sometimes she stays behind,
near some other hope maybe to sniff out whatever was.
Then I call her my Despair.
I call out to her.
Here, my little Despair, come here and she comes and snuggles up,
and again I call her Hope.
(Editor's note: I added the line breaks, but does it really matter?)
Tony Karon adds on Twitter:
Is there a Nobel Prize for silly kitsch?/ Bono's poem at Israeli hotel: 'Hope is like a faithful dog' bit.ly/JhMv6h
— Tony Karon (@TonyKaron) April 18, 2012
This sounds familiar, in style if nothing else. Are we sure Bono wrote it?
Yup, it’s Amichai, which is what I suspected but didn’t want to bet on:
link to the-crystal-gazer.blogspot.com
I actually like some of Amichai’s poetry, to the extent I can separate it from his deplorable politics. (I got into him in my pre-knowing-much-of-anything-about-Zionism days.)
i believe it’s a plagiarism of Dennis Ross’s famous poem, “The peace process is a happy pony”
“i believe it’s a plagiarism of Dennis Ross’s famous poem, “The peace process is a happy pony””
Happy unicorn, Phil. Unicorn.
The Joshua Tree is still one of my all time favorites; Bono, not so much.
Bono is a clown i.m.o.
Oh I agree. Great musician, for sure. Kind of had a similar thing with Beck. Loved his stuff, but when I found out he was a scientologist…….well, what can I say?
Look at what Aipac has up at their site today “Iran’s nuclear program is a threat to America” They even show the West Bank as one contiguous piece of land at their website. They have no need to be accurate. No need at all
link to aipac.org
>> They even show the West Bank as one contiguous piece of land at their website.
Wow, it looks like someone really screwed up the colours! Israel is supposed to be a tiny blue dot in a sea of terrifying green, but instead it’s shown as a little yellow pee stain floating in an swimming pool of soothing blue water.
Heads had better roll for this snafu! ;-)
What is it about Israel that attracts wealth obsessed Irishmen? Perhaps Terryscott can explain it to us.
Terryscott is most likely a frustrated provincial from some Israeli town like Afula.
as long as we’re doing bad poetry,
In Jerusalem, hope springs eternal
Hope is like a faithful dog,
sometimes she pisses on the carpet
or wakes me whining in the morning,
and then I throw a shoe at her:
Hope, Hope, come here, wait till i get my hands on you, you b*tch!
and sometimes Hope lags behind sniffing out some other Hope in heat, straining against her leash,
Then, loosed, roaming free, I call her Despair,
oh, my poor spayed cur.
you won’t multiply in jerusalem
Here, my little Despair, come here! and she comes and snuggles up,
and then i chain her to a post, ‘you naughty girl’, and I call her Hope again.
Ma’an reported he was touring the Wall in Bethlehem a few days ago. Perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss? He could be a powerful ally.
you are an optimist, pamela olson. i don’t think he would do anything the least controversial. it’s one thing to have grumpy, reactionary types mumbling about liberal do-gooders, but another to alienate the faux-progressive types who pay money to listen to him.
Agree with Pamela. People who move on this issue are all on different timetables. A decade ago, Palestine wasn’t even on the radar of the rock and roll elite. I think it was about five years ago that Roger Waters first said something negative about the wall–while playing T-A. Now he’s far more advanced.
scott, i have a more general concern about the effectiveness of celebrity activism. i’d be interested to hear from some people who were part of the SA anti-apartheid movement. were celebrities instrumental to that movement, or just tag alongs at the end when it became fashionable? i honestly don’t know.
He could be a powerful ally
Sure. But first he has to remove poverty from the earth. Let’s not overask him.
We are burning his cds. albums, and all other memorabilia, no stomach for sellouts,
& aparthied lovers here in Chicago, lots of people bringing the stuff to trash it
The second half of the first line has become a cliche and comes from:
Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never Is, but always To be blest: The soul, uneasy and confin’d from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come.
– Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man
The rest of Boner’s poem is tripe. Hope and Despair are as interchangable as Mr. Rogers’ cardigans. Pope sees Hope only in an afterlife, as if the soul cannot live comfortably in the body while on earth. A stranger in a strange body. Too many Christians do not accept Nature as being the manifestation of God. That’s why I’m a Taoist/Deist.
Bono can go screw himself! That guy thinks he is Jesus Christ reincarnated. The only differences is: I think JC would have the balls to take a stand against Israeli occupation.
Didn’t Southpark do an episode about what a big piece of sh_t Bono is???
That faithfull dog he drew (see the BuzzFeed link) wears glasses. Who on earth would wear such silly glasses?
(BTW, he was taking care of his business investments in .il. That is more profitable for him than performing in Tel Aviv with their 360-degrees-tour and then introducing BDS discussions for HIM2. Even his Israeli business partners agreed on that. He did get his photo-op with Peres, we can assume. Probably Tony Blair was in the frame too).
Hope is like a bar of soap
that cleanses despair from my soul
and leaves me feeling invigorated.
Hope is like a fresh orange
whose juices slake my thirst for joy
and satisfy my hunger for life.
A slippery sliver and a wrinkled rind -
abandoned remnants
of a Hope that was betrayed.
;-)
“BTW, he was taking care of his business investments in .il.”
I don’t get it. Seafood has been telling us that Israeli business is doomed–our money should be invested in Euros and Greek and Spanish public utilities. Why would a savvy, money-hungry businessman like Bono invest in Israel?
Tel
I said Israel is not a long play. You added your own spin on the PIIGs.
I can tell you one thing – Greece will still exist in 2112. Israel won’t.
Bono shouldn’t invest in Israel because the money is dirty just like it was in South Africa. Plus he supported sanctions against Burma so it comes across all hypocritical.
“Bono’s visit may have to do with the company Dropbox, in which he invested funds with his friend and U2 guitarist The Edge.” link to haaretz.com
This expresses what I think of Bono, his visit to Zioland and his poem:
link to blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com
ha! good one kalithea.