I loosen my belt and remove my shoes
So, dear, what's going on in the news
They blocked the streets; tore down statues
No surprise there; of what were they accused
The protestors, nothing; but the statues held leftist views
What? What are you saying, dear? Now I'm confused
Honey, it seems that a staunch abolitionist was the first one abused
Huh? An abolitionist? For what was his statue so cruelly used
I don't know. He organized a militia to fight slavery; he was super-enthused
-- Oh, yeah. Hans Christian Heg; maybe one of those religious yahoos
Then that explains that!... Darling I'd really like to continue to schmooze --
But I promised the girls I'd help topple Arethusa of Syracuse...
Notes: Hans Christian Heg's statue was, indeed decapitated today in
Madison, Wisconsin. His 'crime:' He was an abolitionist who organized
a group of Wisconsinites into a Union militia in order to fight against
slavery in the Civil War... Go figure!
Arethusa was a naiad nymph of the sacred Greek colony of Syracuse.
Virgil felt that she inspired pastoral poetry. (Like the above... lol).
How long I’m standing here on Ortygia?
Remain motionless
under the hot sun.
Looking like a marble kouros
with broken hands.
I search the wind
for the cool breeze of Aegean,
the sweet smell of Delos
which gave its name to this place.
I have to caress the Doric columns
in temples of Apollo,
Athena and Artemis.
I have to easy their eternal nostalgia.
But the source of Arethusa
brings black water from Alpheus today.
Olympia is being burned
and my heart comes out of me
falls on the asphalt
and breaking in pieces.
Gods!
What the barbarians doing again
in our homeland,
while we’re standing here?
You as bare models for tourists
and me like a marble kouros
with broken hands.
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