Blowing off the dust
Mood:
not sure
Now Playing: Seiko Matsuda - Tenshi no wink
The place hasn't changed a bit.
Not surprising, really, since I haven't been using it.
Much has happened since I last wrote here. I returned to Baghdad on a mission of some importance, and made it back out alive half a year later with a lot of interesting stories, some of which will go to my grave with me. I have lost loved ones, and others have been born. I have seen the best and worst of man's treatment of man. And I have had more than a few interesting meals with interesting people.
There will be time enough for all of that by and by. For now, I leave you with my latest poem.
Poem in Three LanguagesIl mondo continua a girare.
Un uomo è sepolto, e un altro uomo è sopportato.
Una donna grida amaramente sopra la sua perdita
mentre, da un altro, quelli di flusso di gioia.
E la terra che li riceve,
avere una linguetta intorpidita
discerne nè il vint nè la fonte,
ma li consuma ardentemente tutti,
come singola bevanda.
El mundo continúa haciendo girar
Un hombre llora, mientras que otros gritos.
Un hombre levanta su puño en cólera
Mientras tanto, un otro soportan su mano mientras que ruegan.
Y el cielo que los acepta,
no entiende los emotions
esa impulsión una mano en ella,
los considera nada más
que otro árbol.
Die Welt dreht sich mit einer konstanten Geschwindigkeit
Dieser Mann heult und dieser Mann singt
Dieser Mann kreischt häßliche Wörter, die die Schmerz verursachen
am Gesicht dieses Mannes,
wer eine Hymne des Dankes
seines Gottes singt.
Und dieser Gott,
Wer sieht und hört,
Sitzt nach seinem Thron,
Wie er für eine Welt der Männer weint
sie sind, wie dumm
und unverständig
als die Masse und der Himmel.
Here is the English.The world continues to turn.
One man dies, and another is born.
One woman sheds bitter tears of mourning
while, from another, those of joy flow.
And the Earth that receives them,
dull of palette,
discerns neither vint nor source,
but consumes them all eagerly,
as one draught.
The world continues to turn.
One man weeps, while another shouts.
One man raises a fist of rage,
While another lifts a hand in prayer.
And the sky that accepts them,
incomprehensive of the emotions
that drive a hand into it,
considers them nothing more
than another tree.
The world continues to turn.
One man rages and another man sings.
One man hurls invectives of spite
In the face of another
Who offers hymns of gratitude
To his God.
And this God,
Who sees and hears,
Sits upon his throne,
As he weeps for a world of men
Who are as undiscerning
And uncomprehending
As the Earth and Sky.