Hitch

Contrarian they called him

Contrarian he was

The world was against him from the start

Father cold indifferent

Left him mother love

And she sent him away at eight years old

And then she left again

Had found another man

And then she left again

Found in a Greek hotel dead and cold

 

Three times deserted by the one he loved

Christopher alone now in the world

An empty world

There is no God

There is no kindly love

There is just myself

My clever mind

And words the speaking of

 

To see him was to like the man a lot

Gift of the gab

Intelligent sounding off

But I saw the lonely schoolboy

The lost deserted child

Fighting for himself

Alone now in the wild

 

I do not think I miss the mark

Our childhood days are all

Foundation stones of later life

Echoes down the hall

Where is the love for Christopher?

Why was he sent away?

What we need is family

Our home our strength our stay

 

Brian Fahy

14 March 2022

 

+ This is my impression of Christopher Hitchens. I am reminded of a student I knew whose emotional life was as yet undeveloped but who possessed a great intelligence. He therefore dealt with the outside world with a fierce intellect but without an accompanying gentleness. As Pope Benedict XVI has said, ‘truth may be vital but without love it is unbearable.’