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ratsonjulia

Lake Woebegone

Member Since 2002

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Wednesday Aug 20, 2003

Aug 20, 2003
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THE SPANISH LIE

This will be answered.

The tears were not answered but thsi will be answered.

The tears of Madrid, of Barcelona, Valencia--
The tears were not answered.

The tears are dry on the faces.

The blood is dry on the sand.

The tears were not answered: the blood was not answered.

This will be answered.

Because the men of Guernica do not speak,
Because the children of Almeria are silent,
Because the women of Badajoz are dumb,
Are dumb, they have no voices, no voices,
Their throats are stopped with the sand of that place,
They do not speak, they will never speak, & the children,
The children of Almeria, they are still,
They do not move, they will never move, those children:
Their bodies are broken, their bones are broken, their mouths are--

Because they are dead, are dumb, because they are speechless,
Do not believe,
Do not believe the answer will not come.

Do not believe
Because the blood has not been answered
The lie will not be answered.

Do not believe
Because the tears have not been answered
The lie will not be answered.

Do not believe it.

This will be answered.
This will be answered with
Time.
There is time.

The dead have time in those cities
In Badajoz, in Guernica, Almeria.

They can wait: they have much time.

There is time.
They can wait.
------------------------

that is by Archibald MacLeish, from New & Collected Poems 1917-1976 (specifically from Actfive & Other Poems (1948)) which I bought at a booksale several months ago & hadn't gotten around to cracking until this morning when I pulled it down & it flopped open to the above poem.

it seems to have a certain relevance.

but it's just poetry.

& an old poem at that.
tororo:
Beautiful words. And, a certain relevance, indeed.

Speaking of relevance.... Do you remember these days (it seems so long ago now) when the UNO inspectors used to present to the press weekly reports on the state of Iraq's disarmament? To arrive at the conference room the presentations were made in, journalists needed to walk a gallery a large reproduction of Picasso's Guernica was usually exposed in... some day somebody noticed the gigantic picture had been covered with a even more gigantic UNO blue flag... asked why, UNO officials answered it was for "technical reasons": for offering to TV cameras a suitable background.... in case cameramen would have to follow the UNO representative outside the conference room....

They were right, of course. As a background, a plain pale blue hanging is suitable for almost any imaginable circumstances.

















Except, probably, a landing of pale blue-skinned aliens.
Aug 23, 2003

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