Address by Alison Phipps: Monday 9 May 2022 at our Memorial Chapel

Here, on the slopes before sunset and
At the gun-mouth of time
Near orchards deprived
Of their shadows
We do what prisoners do:
We nurture hope.

Mahmoud Darwish's State of Siege (thanks to Manar M. Kh. Al House, for sharing these precious words with me)

They come from over 70 years of war and struggle in another conflict and from a people who know as Ukrainians do of vigilance of solidarity and of hope. 

Hope

We nurture hope
We steady ourselves,
quiet ourselves
grieve ourselves
hold ourselves
so that we might know
the nature of hope.

And we do so with great care, and tenderness, for hope, as the poet said, Its a thing with feathers, easily crushed, easily blown off course, easily stranded with an injured wing or leg, easily ringed and tracked for protection, yes, but also for exploitation by cruel others.

Here, on the slopes before sunset and
At the gun-mouth of time
Near orchards deprived
Of their shadows
We do what prisoners do:
We nurture hope.

A fragile thing. It escapes us and flies off just after its perched on a branch, almost within reach.

Or Perhaps…

Or perhaps you
are a robin,
turmoil
seeping from
the wound
in your breast,
silvered with
a fierce
honour,
tempting me,
taunting me,
as close
as my gasp at
the nearness of
your loveliness,
then, a blur of feathers,
a shaking branch,
and all I have is
a scattering of raindrops,
lighting my skin.

There are bright territories
In your eye.

It is a forbidding
song.

The UNESCO Mission, which the University upholds through its UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration though Languages and the Arts: If war is made in the minds of people then it is in the minds of people that the defences of peace must be constructed.

The Secretary-General of the UN has worked hard to find peaceful solutions and the UN has called actively for peace, condemning war crimes and upholding the defence of civilians as refugees and also humanitarian actors. Efforts are ongoing through all the international instruments and NGOs and in my own work I see the extent to which these are mirrored in the extraordinary, heartfelt and practical responses of students and staff in the grassroots of the University, especially, today, those from Ukraine, but also people of courage from Russian and Belarus; from the departments affected or those with practical ideas of how to help, and the structures of the University in its overt statement of sanctuary for all seeking refuge, from across the world.

The Wars being waged in Horn of Africa and Syria are part of what is now manifesting in Ukraine, and here, in Horn of Africa and Syria, we saw what the warfare and alliances of Russia were capable of in Aleppo and now with Eritrea and Tigray. The war on Ukraine is part of a wider war that has been waged and is ongoing and it is in our Universities that we see this understood, studied and addressed in many different and creative ways.

Here, on the slopes before sunset and
At the gun-mouth of time
Near orchards deprived
Of their shadows
We do what prisoners do:
We nurture hope.

Hope - a thing with feathers - like a sea eagle or wild hawk, or graceful like the grey heron of the north. Strong. Fierce. Sharp-eyed and able rise with grace and power and ease

Here, in our University Community, on the slopes of Gilmorehill, before sunset
at the gun mouth of time
near cherry trees with their fading blossom
under the long shadows of war
we do what witnesses do
we hold vigil
we stand in solidarity
we plant sunflower seeds
we nurture hope.

that thing with feathers.

First published: 20 May 2022

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