A Stretch for a Poetry Friday Post
January 15th, 2010 by jules
Yup, a stretch. Sorry: No poetry today. But my post can sort of wedge its way into Poetry Friday, given that I’m simply linking to a list of resources posted over at The Poetry Foundation’s web site.
At their blog, Harriet, Don Share’s got some information on the best ways to help out those who are suffering in Haiti, given this week’s tragic earthquake. The information is here.
If you want some actual poetry, the round-up is being hosted today by Mary Ann at Great Kid Books.
There shall be poetry –here is an excerpt, the beginning stanza from Voltaire’s poem about the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Rev. Robertson might read more poetry now?
source
“Some Lines from Voltaire’s Poem on the Disaster at Lisbon”
By François Marie Arouet de Voltaire
Translation by Eli Siegel
“1. Will You Say This?
Will you say, “It is the effect of everlasting laws
Which necessitates this choice by a free and good God”?
Will you say, seeing this heap of victims:
“God is avenged, their death is the payment of their crimes”?
What crimes, what bad things have been committed by these children,
Lying on the breasts of their mothers, flattened and bloody?
Lisbon, which is a city no longer, had it more vices
Than London, than Paris, given to doubtful delights?”
–It’s not a long poem. It’s beautiful but no substitute for real tears and action. But it’s something. So go read the rest of it.
Oh! Thanks, Rob. Very good. Very good that you shared.
In Voltaire’s words:
“Direz-vous: “C’est l’effet des éternelles lois
Qui d’un Dieu libre et bon nécessitent le choix”?
Direz-vous, en voyant cet amas de victimes:
“Dieu s’est vengé, leur mort est le prix de leurs crimes”?
Quel crime, quelle faute ont commis ces enfants
Sur le sein maternel écrasés et sanglants?
Lisbonne, qui n’est plus, eut-elle plus de vices
Que Londres, que Paris, plongés dans les délices?
Lisbonne est abîmée, et l’on danse à Paris. “
It’s so tragic what has happened this week. Thank you for sharing the link to Harriet.
Thanks for the link. The Red Cross is always a good option. Our previous pastor has family members that live in Haiti. We still have not heard news on how they are managing.