Long Sarajevo Poems
Long Sarajevo Poems. Below are the most popular long Sarajevo by PoetrySoup Members. You can search for long Sarajevo poems by poem length and keyword.
(On 28 June 1914, in the Balkan town of Sarajevo,
an attempt to assassinate a royal Austrian duke
failed miserably ... or did it? Gabriel Princips, one
of the plotters, stopped for a coffee and by chance
saw the duke, sitting in a stalled car, and shot him
dead. This triggered the First World War. Here,
the cafe owner fails to grasp the significance of
what is unfolding.)
Komm hier, Nannerl. Put down that tray. Observe.
It's thus we take the skin off warmed-up milk,
just so. But where's that little fellow gone?
The one stood there. This is his coffee. Look.
The small one, dark and oval in the face,
with piercing eyes ... I know - but will he pay?
One coffee and a madeleine he had,
and looked the type to linger for an hour.
How strange! Go, look. He might be on the street.
Some twenty years, a feeble black moustache.
No, not the corner door - look out the side.
A Slav, of course a Slav! No manly Teuton
would leave by side-street exit. Go and see!
It's typical of them. I know them well.
My name's not Moritz Schiller if I lie.
They're children - so impulsive, petulant -
incapable of seeing anything through.
That's why they need us. Isn't it obvious?
We're like the English, it's our Ireland,
we're here to civilize them. At what cost?
I'd rather train a cat. They're sulky, dull,
perpetually ungrateful ... what was that?
Good God, such noise! You'd think a war was starting,
or the crack of Judgement Day. Nannerl, was gibt?
What is missing in this city?
What is missing in Stockholm, in Paris,
In London and Copenhagen,
The sun.
What is missing in this city?
What is missing in Paris, in Brussels,
In Honfleur and Geneva,
L'ennui
What is missing in this city?
What is missing in this city?
What is missing in Lyon, Paris, Marseille,
nice people, forgiving people in heaven,
People watching the sea,
What is missing in this city?
What is missing in Paris, Berlin, Lisbon
Or in Rome, Vienna or Sarajevo,
Youth, youth, youth,
A girl who says YES to birds,
A poet who says YES to a girl,
The sun finally, which says: «Yes, I like you as you are».
(Author's note: It has come to my attention that the U.K. has decided to eliminate Holocaust
education from its curricula, on the grounds it may "offend" some groups)
So, for fear it may offend,
The truth is to be turned without the door
Beggared for its embarrassments,
By force forgotten, evermore.
The ghostly pasts to which we choose to blind ourselves
Will not, for that, pass on and disappear.
Each unremembered victim bides and waits
For fresh companions year to year.
A death denied is no less true.
The twice-wronged dead are owed their due.
So are we now, for comfort's sake
Never to remember the strange hot snow
That once was people, blown wide below
Poland's leaden skies,
The murder born of casual lies -
Steal from the dead all final dignity
Because we lack the will or strength to see
The open catalogue of Man's mad mistakes?
The road away from truth is dark and long,
Wrong forgot breeds greater wrong.
One hundred times one hundred centuries
Should bear the memory of our darkest deeds.
Denial sweeps the slate as we forget,
Then plant tomorrow's evil seeds.
I read the lies upon the page
As inwardly I rage, and rage.
Never remember - yet again the cycle starts:
Sand Creek, Sarajevo, Nanking, Rwanda all repeat
With all their gathering ghosts replete
With all the sly excuses as to cause;
Humanity subsumed within the legal clause.
Never remember - and arm the State that separates
The "Us" from "Them", that sanctions hate.
We close our minds, we seal our hearts.
I sit and rage and move my pen, but shall I yet pretend
My wearied words will take effect? After all, they may offend.