Here’s the poem in translation:
I
Truly, I live in dark times! The innocuous word is fatuous. A smooth brow Denotes insensitivity. If someone is laughing It only means, that he hasn't yet Heard the dreadful news.
What sort of times are these, when To talk about trees is almost a crime, Because it is simultaneously silence about so many atrocities! Someone placidly crossing the street Is certainly not available for his friend Who is in need?
It is true : I do earn my living. But believe me: that is the merest accident. Nothing That I do gives me the right, to be stuffing myself full. I have been spared by accident. (If my luck runs out, I’m finished.)
They say to me: eat and drink! Be happy that you have! But how can I eat and drink, when Every bite that I eat is ripped from the mouth of a starving man, and My glass of water is being denied to one dying of thirst? And yet I eat, and I drink.
I would love to be wise as well. You can find what is wise in the old books: To hold yourself aloof from the strife of the world, and to spend Your brief time without fear; Also, to get by without violence, To repay evil with good, To relinquish desires, rather than fulfilling them, These are all considered wise. Of all this I am incapable: Truly, I live in dark times!
II
I came to the cities in the Age of Disorder When hunger was rampant. I came among mankind in the Age of Turmoil And I railed against it. That is how my days were spent That were given to me on earth.
I ate my food between battles I lied down to sleep among the murderers I attended diffidently to love And looked upon nature with impatience. That is how my days were spent That were given to me on earth.
In my day, the streets led to the swamp. My language betrayed me to the butcher. There was little I could do. But the powerful Sat more comfortably without me, so I hoped. That is how my days were spent That were given to me on earth.
The forces were weak. The goal Was distant, remote. It was plainly visible, even if I Could never reach it. That is how my days were spent That were given to me on earth.
III
You, who will spring up from the flood In which we have drowned Think, When you speak of our shortcomings, Also of the dark times That you have been spared.
We, who had to change countries more often Than our shoes, walked in despair amid the class struggle, When we saw only injustice, but no indignation.
And yet we do know: Even hatred of baseness Contorts the features. Even wrath against injustice Makes the voice hoarse. Ah, we Who wanted to prepare the ground for friendship Were ourselves unable to be friendly.
But you, if the world has come so far That each person is now a helper to his fellows Think of us With forbearance.
--- ravi <ravi at platosbeard.org> wrote:
> On 14 Jun, 2007, at 12:45 PM, Blackmail wrote:
> ...
> ...
>
>
> Many list members have quite curious names or
> addresses, some
> motivated by a need for privacy, but all of them it
> seems are chosen
> to reflect something about themselves, their
> thoughts, etc. I am
> starting this thread out of curiousity -- if you
> have an id that is
> non-obviously named, what is the story behind it?
>
> What does "blackmail.is.my.life" mean? Sounds
> alarming, but it turns
> out to also be the name of a Japanese movie (thank
> you Google)? Is
> that the reference? What about others?
>
> In case you care:
>
> My own domain "platosbeard.org" is a reference to
> the term Plato's
> Beard, which I believe was first used by the
> mathematician and
> philosopher W.V.O.Quine in reference to the question
> of "What
> exists?" -- Platonism (especially in math)
> permitting all sorts of
> entities -- the beard -- that, as Quine held, would
> often dull the
> parsimonious aim of Occam's razor.
>
> The reason I use this name is two-fold: on the one
> hand I am an anti-
> Platonist and am happy to highlight its excesses and
> pretensions. On
> the other hand, "reality" is much like a tangled and
> untamed web, and
> Occam's razor can help make sense of it, but cannot
> help explain it.
> Etc. Etc. "Conquest of Abundance" as the title of
> philosopher
> Feyerabend's last book goes.
>
> --ravi
>
> ___________________________________
>
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
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