Dawnings
The Strangers
By Nicholas Hooper
Be careful what you watch
The images of hate can burn you
The echoes of racism and lies
can rest in your mind
and keep you awake at night
How can we be like this? you ask
How can need and care
turn into cold rejection
of all that is good in a human soul
and change a country to somewhere unsafe?
So nurture the strangers
They are your only chance
to make good the wrongs of the past
And see the light of yourself in their eyes
for they are your neighbours
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About Dawnings:
“Every morning at around 5am I get up and go down to my studio. After a short meditation I write down whatever is in my head, giving myself fifteen minutes to do so. Then moving over to the piano (or a more portable instrument like my Ukulele when I'm away), I improvise and record a piece of music inspired by whatever words I just wrote. It is a great way of keeping both my writing and my composing going and I call these small creations Dawnings. They are mostly unedited, like sketches, so that they keep that fresh feeling of an early morning discovery.”
— Nick Hooper