From I'm Explaining a Few Things, a poem by Pablo Neruda. Substitute Franco's hordes for the Israelis...
And one morning all that was burning,
one morning the bonfires
leapt out of the earth
devouring human beings --
and from then on fire,
gunpowder from then on,
and from then on blood.
Bandits with planes and Moors,
bandits with finger-rings and duchesses,
bandits with black friars spattering blessings
came through the sky to kill children
and the blood of children ran through the streets
without fuss, like children's blood.
Jackals that the jackals would despise,
stones that the dry thistle would bite on and spit out,
vipers that the vipers would abominate!
Treacherous
generals:
see my dead house,
look at broken Spain :
from every house burning metal flows
instead of flowers,
from every socket of Spain
Spain emerges
and from every dead child a rifle with eyes,
and from every crime bullets are born
which will one day find
the bull's eye of your hearts.
Come and see the blood in the streets.
Come and see
The blood in the streets.
Come and see the blood
In the streets!
29 December 2008
In Solidarity With Gaza
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1 comment:
I think that what makes this poem so powerful is its vivid imagery. There are so many confusing images here that it's as if Neruda were describing a surrealist or cubist painting. If you really like Neruda, check out Red Poppy at www.redpoppy.net. It's a nonprofit set up to create a documentary about him, publish his biography, and translate his works into English.
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