"What Must Be Said” Why do I stay silent, conceal for too long
What is obvious and has been Practiced in war games, at the end of which we as survivors Are at best footnotes. It is the alleged right to the first strike That could annihilate the Iranian people— Subjugated by a loud-mouth And guided to organized jubilation— Because in their sphere of power, It is suspected, a nuclear bomb is being built. Yet why do I forbid myself To name that other country In which, for years, even if secretly, There has been a growing nuclear potential at hand But beyond control, because not accessible to inspections? The universal concealment of these facts, To which my silence subordinated itself, I sense as an incriminating lie And coercion--the punishment is promised As soon as it is ignored; The verdict of "anti-Semitism" is familiar. Now, though, because in my country Which time and again has sought and confronted Its very own crimes That is without comparison In turn on a purely commercial basis, if also With nimble lips calling it a reparation, declares A further U-boat should be delivered to Israel, Whose specialty consists of guiding all-destroying warheads to where the existence Of a single atomic bomb is unproven, But fear wishes to be of conclusive evidence, I say what must be said. But why have I stayed silent until now? Because I thought my origin, Afflicted by a stain never to be expunged Forbade this fact as pronounced truth To be told to the nation of Israel, to which I am bound And wish to stay bound. Why do I say only now, Aged and with my last ink, The nuclear power Israel endangers The already fragile world peace? Because it must be said What even tomorrow may be too late to say; Also because we--as Germans burdened enough-- Could become suppliers to a crime That is foreseeable, wherefore our complicity Could not be redeemed through any of the usual excuses. And granted: I am silent no longer Because I am tired of the West's hypocrisy; In addition to which it is to be hoped That this will free many from silence, Appeal to the perpetrator of the recognizable danger To renounce violence and Likewise insist That an unhindered and permanent control Of the Israeli nuclear potential And the Iranian nuclear sites Be authorized through an international agency By the governments of both countries. Only this way are all, the Israelis and Palestinians, Even more, all people, that in this Region occupied by mania Live cheek by jowl among enemies, And also us, to be helped. -- Jim Devine / "In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite." -- Paul Dirac. Social science is in the middle.... and usually in a muddle. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
