on 12/9/02 3:16 AM, Robin Hamilton at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> The "David" in the title isn't, in case it's not apparent, dave bircumshaw,
> but David (D.M.) Black.
Thanks, Robin, I enjoyed this poem, as far as I could understand it. Come to
think of it, I think it possible that D.M.Black's 'The Educators' was the
first EVER English poem I graced with a close reading resulting in a
translation (never published) back in the early 1970s. What's happened to
him?
Best
Árni
--
Árni Ibsen
Stekkjarkinn 19,
220 Hafnarfjördur,
Iceland
tel.: +354-555-3991
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://www.centrum.is/~aibsen/
> TO DAVID, REMEMBERING HOW IT WAS IN THAT TIME
>
>
> The dream becomes formal, David, when the drama is
> played out. I turn my mind to the Bacchae: dare I
> risk another confrontation with its author?
>
> Neutrality is difficult, as the Greeks knew; to be
> merely human, proffer allegiance to no god.
> leaves man naked in a world they rule.
>
> But to commit myself to him! pitiless double-aspected
> child, frowning surveyor of ruins, patron
> of panic and catastrophe - that's hard.
>
> Better perhaps the smiling musician, author of
> cool alexandrines, who pays his tax on time;
> or even the blind boy who is at least sincere,
>
> Since sincerity would come so easy, simply shut the eye
> to each difficult and disturbing circumstance,
> plunge straight into the maelstrom.
>
> But to hold a balance while we're spun like a top
> by him! when the nerves fret and jerk in expectation
> of the next psychic inundation, wonder if, this time,
>
> I will still outrun his pack of virgin whores,
> reach a mountain sanctuary beyond their grasp
> or sink bleeding and castrate beneath their nails and teeth.
>
> But it's past time, there's no longer a choice, he doesn't
> ask anymore, or wait for his name to be spoken -
> the King of Shadows saunters through my mind.
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