“The Dogs bark and the Caravan moves on”

• Traditional Arabic Proverb –

How many times do we stop along the journey,

to listen to the malicious and gossipy,

who have nothing better to do than doubt

and criticize those who work and create daily.

How many good projects, personal or collective,

have not be completed and have not borne fruit,

because such people with no purpose other than

disagree by no reason or understanding,

sometimes out of pure envy or ill will.

Once we have had a resolute and firm conviction,

we cannot let go of that faith with which we began,

even if the opposing sides are more intelligent

or insightful.

Ideas and perspectives are individual and,

almost always, misunderstood by other minds,

other than ours.

We, the ones who create and make things happen,

must to learn to ignore them and turn a deaf ear.

(The title of this poem is in Italian, to pay tribute to the Italian author Dante Alighieri, who introduced his play “Inferno”, in his poem “The Divine Comedy”, written in 1308, with these words)

This poem and all others at this blog, authored by Edilson Afonso Ferreira ©

Sharing with friends my poem “Buried in the Folds of Time”, published today, October 22th 2026, in the American Literary Journal “Writing Café Journal”. Many thanks to the dear Editor-in-Chief Nunzia Stark.

https://www.writingcafejournal.com/poem.php?slug=buried-in-the-folds-of-time

The wind of time carries away our stories

and our triumphs,

and we have no strength to stop it,

nor even think to restrain, or give it,

any criteria or compassion in its predatory 

and animalistic onslaught.

It does not respect the love and empathy,

which, as humans, we have managed to create,

and have tried to pass on to new generations,

which, with difficulty, have to recreate them,

great and unjust penalty.

It is a wind that has blown since the beginning,

and comes riding us on horseback, and appears  

like those weeds that twine around and suffocate

the trees that give us fruit and shade.

Just like also those small fish, the remoras

or suckfish, that effortlessly travel oceans

on the backs of larger fish, which

does not know how to avoid them. 

This poem and all others at this blog, authored by Edilson Afonso Ferreira ©

My good and dear brother,

if I may call you that.

I wrote some three or four poems to God,

our common father, and so far,

I have not been censured, neither by God,

nor by the people who have published them.

Today, I dare to address you, Savior

and Creator of the faith into which

I was baptized and anointed,

where I intend to live forever.

Allow me to stand with that older brother

in Luke 15:11-32, always righteous and obedient,

who did not agree to the feast for the prodigal son,

who left home and squandered his paternal fortune.

The rebuke of his father does not seem fair to me.

Allow me also to see shudder, fear and apprehension,

in Matthew 18:21-22, where you said we must forgive 

not seven, but seventy-seven times.

I feel we are not capable of living that way,

so we would give strength to wickedness and wrongdoers.

May God forgive me, and you as well, but you did not wear

the wedding ring, did not raise a family or have children,

could never imagine how hard to deal

with so little love these days.

In truth, I appreciate it much more when you set aside

a hit of your holiness and, with a saint fury, has revealed

yourself as a human, like us, in Matthew 21:12, where,  

“He cast out all them that sold and bought,

overthrew the tables of the moneychangers”.

This poem and all others at this blog, authored by Edilson Afonso Ferreira ©

Sharing with friends my poem “Renaissance”, today, October 2nd 2026, published in the Literary Journal “Feed the Holy”. Many thanks to the dear editor Ms. Barbara Leonhard.

https://feedthehol.blogspot.com/2026/10/renaissance-by-edilson-ferreira.html

Sharing with friends my poem “Lost by the Way”, today, September 2, 2026, published in the American Literary Journal “Feed the Holy”. Many thanks to the dear Editor Ms. Barbara Leonhard.

https://feedthehol.blogspot.com/2026/09/lost-by-way-by-edilson-ferreira.html

Sharing with friends my poem “Confessional”, published today, August 13th, 2026, in the American Literary Journal “Feed the Holy”. Many thanks to the dear editor, Ms. Barbara Leonhard.

https://feedthehol.blogspot.com/2026/08/confessional-by-edilson-ferreira.html

Sharing with friends my poem “Nocturnal Refugees”. today, August 12 2026, published in the American Literary Review “The Ekphrastic Review”. Many thanks to the dear editor Lorette C. Luzajic.

http://www.ekphrastic.net

Sharing with friends my poem “Longing” , just published in the August 2026 issue of the Indian Literary Journal “The Wise Owl”. Many thanks to the dear editor Dr. Rachna Singh.

https://www.thewiseowl.art/edilson-a-ferreira

“Deuteronomy 32-20 – Then He said,

I will hide My face from them,

I will see what their end will be;

For they are a perverse generation,

Sons in whom is no faithfulness”

God, with all due respect, and, too,

with great candor and loyalty, we come

seeking a dialogue, if such a thing is possible.

You are surely aware of the misdirection

that has defined our lives since the test

You have imposed upon us.

We have been lost, like that sheep strayed  

from the rest of the flock,

or like those old sailing ships

left to the mercy of the winds.

We have never had even that natural gift of birds,

who know from birth their journeys and returns

in each season of their lives. 

We have been unable to follow a safe course,

whether on the paths of earth

or on those of the mind and soul. 

You know we cannot ever find the way back,

looking for the dawn of time and creation.  

We believe it is time You remind us, renewing 

some love and care we believe a Creator

is indebted to his creature. 

This poem and all others at this blog, authored by Edilson Afonso Ferreira ©

(Published in Feed the Holy, Sep 2, 2026)