Poem Beginning with a Line from Neruda
POETRY FORMAT, 4 May 2020
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service
“Puedo escribir versos mas tristes esta noche.”—Neruda
(Tonight I can write sadder verses.)
Because the moon has disappeared…from grief.
Because the children weep for their parents.
Because memories are whitewashed… and stolen.
Because words have lost their meaning.
Because I have lived through this before.
Because, I assure you, this does not end well.
Neither Nature nor Nurture can save us.
Because we have murdered Nature.
Because we are peasants in a land of thieves.
Because we are beyond consolation.
Because beauty is sold into whoredom.
Because the coin of the realm is a slug.
Because we pray, but have forgotten how.
Because we “find,” but dare no longer seek.
Because we enslave—others and ourselves.
Bowing to fools, we shackle the wise.
The Children of Light flutter…and depart,
Leaving their questions in the quivering air:
“Why bring us into this pinwheel of sorrow?
Wasn’t it better not to be born?”
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Dr. Gary Steven Corseri is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. He has published novels and poetry collections, and published/posted poetry, prose and dramas at hundreds of periodicals and websites worldwide, including Transcend Media Service, Countercurrents, Counterpunch, Village Voice and The New York Times. He has performed his work at the Carter Presidential Library, and his dramas have been presented on PBS-Atlanta and elsewhere. He has taught at universities in the U.S. and Japan and in US public schools and prisons. Contact: Gary_Corseri@comcast.net
Tags: Poetry
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 4 May 2020.
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