Justice

I consider all the acts of oppression

By Ant / 22 August 2008

I consider all the acts of oppression
here under the sun; I SAW the tears of the oppressed.
and I saw that there was no one to Comfort them.
strength was on the side of the oppressors
and there was no one to avenge them.
———————————-
I Counted the dead happy
because they were dead, happier
than the living who were still in life. More fortunate
than either I reckoned
man yet unborn, who had not
witnessed the wicked deeds done
here under the SUN.
I considered all toil and
all achievement and saw
that it comes from rivalry
between man and man.
This too is emptiness and
chasing the wind.

The fool folds his arms
and wastes away.

Better one hand full and
peace of mind than both
fists full and toil that is
chasing the wind.

Here again I saw emptiness under
the SUN without son or brother
toiling endlessly yet never

—
This painting was found in McCahon’s studio, symbolically face down, after his death. Perhaps it offers us something to ponder – this man who created for us in these islands icons and images to live by.

“I saw something logical, orderly and beautiful belonging to the land and not yet its people. Not yet understood or communicated, not even really yet invented. My work has largely been to communicate this vision and to invent the way to see it.”

The text is inspired from Ecclesiastes 4. McCahon leaves us hanging – unfinished? But Ecclesiastes concludes:

“…never satisfied with riches. ‘For whom am I toiling’, they ask, ‘and depriving myself of pleasure?’ This also is vanity and an unhappy business.”