I enjoy Michael Burch’s translations of ancient poetry several of which I have reposted here. They appeal to me because he attempts to maintain those poems poetic ideals that seem less important to more academic translators. He is also an accomplished poet. I recently discovered two of his more political poems which I have reproduced here. While they may lack some of the poetic merit of some of his other poetry, I, given my obsession with things political, thought them interesting and so I decided to share them with you.
First They Came for the Muslims by Michael R. Burch
after Martin Niemöller
First they came for the Muslims
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Muslim.
Then they came for the homosexuals
and I did not speak out
because I was not a homosexual.
Then they came for the feminists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a feminist.
Now when will they come for me
because I was too busy and too apathetic
to defend my sisters and brothers?
AUTHOR’S NOTE: It is indeed an honor to have one of my poems published by such an outstanding organization as Amnesty International, one of the world’s finest. Not only is the cause good―a stated goal is to teach students about human rights through poetry―but so far the poetry published seems quite good to me. My poem appears beneath the famous Holocaust poem that inspired it, “First They Came” by Martin Niemöller.* Here’s a bit of background information: Words That Burn is an online poetry anthology and human rights educational resource for students and teachers created by Amnesty International in partnership with The Poetry Hour. Amnesty International is the world’s largest human rights organization, with seven million supporters. Its new webpage has been designed to “enable young people to explore human rights through poetry whilst developing their voice and skills as poets.” This exemplary resource was inspired by the poetry anthology Words that Burn, curated by Josephine Hart of The Poetry Hour, which in turn was inspired by Thomas Gray’s observation that “Poetry is thoughts that breathe and words that burn.” My poem now returns a staggering 690,000 Google results, suggesting that it has been widely cut-and-pasted.
*First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Martin Niemöller
War is Obsolete by Michael R. Burch
Trump’s war is on children and their mothers.
“If we are to carry out a real war against war, we will have to begin with the children.” — Gandhi
“An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” — Gandhi
War is obsolete;
even the strange machinery of dread
weeps for the child in the street
who cannot lift her head
to reprimand the Man
who failed to countermand
her soft defeat.
But war is obsolete;
even the cold robotic drone
that flies far overhead
has sense enough to moan
and shudder at her plight
(only men bereft of Light
with hearts indurate stone
embrace war’s Siberian night.)
For war is obsolete;
man’s tribal “gods,” long dead,
have fled his awakening sight
while the true Sun, overhead,
has pity on her plight.
O sweet, precipitate Light! —
embrace her, reject the night
that leaves gentle fledglings dead.
For each brute ancestor lies
with his totems and his “gods”
in the slavehold of premature night
that awaited him in his tomb;
while Love, the ancestral womb,
still longs to give birth to the Light.
So which child shall we murder tonight,
or which Ares condemn to the gloom?
Originally published by The Flea
While campaigning for president in 2016, Donald Trump insisted that, as commander-in-chief of the American military, he would order American soldiers to track down and murder women and children as “retribution” for acts of terrorism. When disbelieving journalists asked Trump if he could possibly have meant what he said, he verified several times that he did.
(More poetry --papajoesfables.wordpress.com/...)