"DARK WITH POWER" ANNIVERSARY (WENDELL BERRY & THOREAU)

Opinion: On the 50th anniversary of the #war’s end, the wounds of #Vietnam still haven’t healed /via @globeandmail https://t.co/g7iNuIpDy4

— Guillermo Ruiz Zapatero (@ruiz_zapatero) February 2, 2023

 

Dark with power, we remain

the invaders of our land, leaving

deserts where forests were,

scars where there were hills.

 

On the mountains, on the rivers,

on the cities, on the farmlands

we lay weighted hands, our breath

potent with the death of all things.

 

Pray to us, farmers and villagers

of Vietnam. Pray to us, mothers

and children of helpless countries.

Ask for nothing.

 

We are carried in the belly

of what we have become

toward the shambles of our triumph,

far from the quiet houses.

 

Fed with dying, we gaze

on our might’s monuments of fire.

The world dangles from us

while we gaze.

 

WB (from "Openings" (1968))

" I am to high-born to be propertied

To be a secondary at control,

Or useful serving man and instrument

To any sovereign state throughout the world"

(...)

I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my goverment which is the slave's government also"

HDT