di dee dum
we are going to War
di dee dum
ho ho
people die
others get up in the morning
but they can't choose
di dee dum
is this fair?
ho ho
Another great War Poem
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paula_hansen
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tom.d.stiller
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Paula,
I appreciate your being against this war. And I've already expressed elsewhere that I take your position of "Love is the answer" to be perfectly maintenable, and that I prefer this position over many others held up when talking about the Iraq issue.
But do you really think that these lines constitute "another great War Poem"?
I don't.
No bad feelings
Tom
I appreciate your being against this war. And I've already expressed elsewhere that I take your position of "Love is the answer" to be perfectly maintenable, and that I prefer this position over many others held up when talking about the Iraq issue.
But do you really think that these lines constitute "another great War Poem"?
I don't.
No bad feelings
Tom
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paula_hansen
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paula_hansen
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Byron
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- Location: Mad House, Eating Tablets, Cereals, Jam, Marmalade and HONEY, with Albert
Ooops!
But life does go on.
For example, Robert Mugabe continues to commit atrocities on his own people,
30 million are dying from HIV and AIDS in Africa.
British troops are still engaged in peacekeeping in Kosovo, Cyprus, Nothern Ireland, The Congo, East Timor and still at Heathrow Airport.
American comedians like Bob Hope did much good work in previous wars. British comics like Jim Davidson continue to entertain the troops.
Yes, I agree that soldiers are losing their lives, but I'm sure that they would not want the free world to lose sight of the fact that we must continue to celebrate our G-d given lives.
I've attended Irish 'Wakes' and believe me they know what war and strife are really like, but they do enjoy being alive.
We remember the poem by W.H.Auden, used in 'Four Weddings and a Funeral.'
Death had taken the love of his life.
Why do I raise this here and now?
Like many other people in the audience who were watching the film with me, I laughed, smiled, cried, wept, laughed again, smiled again, cried again, as the storyline unfolded before us all.
I emerged from the cinema feeling drained and uplifted at the same time. Life is like that. Life must go on. And in his own way, it could be said, that that is what Auden was saying.
I think the film's director was picking up on that point. But I could be wrong.
G-d bless.
But life does go on.
For example, Robert Mugabe continues to commit atrocities on his own people,
30 million are dying from HIV and AIDS in Africa.
British troops are still engaged in peacekeeping in Kosovo, Cyprus, Nothern Ireland, The Congo, East Timor and still at Heathrow Airport.
American comedians like Bob Hope did much good work in previous wars. British comics like Jim Davidson continue to entertain the troops.
Yes, I agree that soldiers are losing their lives, but I'm sure that they would not want the free world to lose sight of the fact that we must continue to celebrate our G-d given lives.
I've attended Irish 'Wakes' and believe me they know what war and strife are really like, but they do enjoy being alive.
We remember the poem by W.H.Auden, used in 'Four Weddings and a Funeral.'
Auden wanted us to know how much pain he was suffering.Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dogs from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.
The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
Death had taken the love of his life.
Why do I raise this here and now?
Like many other people in the audience who were watching the film with me, I laughed, smiled, cried, wept, laughed again, smiled again, cried again, as the storyline unfolded before us all.
I emerged from the cinema feeling drained and uplifted at the same time. Life is like that. Life must go on. And in his own way, it could be said, that that is what Auden was saying.
I think the film's director was picking up on that point. But I could be wrong.
G-d bless.
Paula, I'm quite sure that Byron did not mean to belittle in any way the pain that so many people are feeling now, but you can't sustain a high level of tension or emotion indefinitely. Ask Sir Alfred Hitchcock or Shakespeare. There comes a point where you have to defuse the situation with a little humour, if only in order to be able to cope with the next onslaught on your sensibilities.
Linda
1972: Leeds, 2008: Manchester, Lyon, London O2, 2009: Wet Weybridge, 2012: Hop Farm/Wembley Arena
1972: Leeds, 2008: Manchester, Lyon, London O2, 2009: Wet Weybridge, 2012: Hop Farm/Wembley Arena
Paula ~
I laughed out of comic relief. Not only did I "get" the comical reference, but I remembered a specific comment I had made that I'd rather be reading about the muffins, et al than be reading and listening regarding the upcoming war [at that time]. It was a relief for me then, and his reference created a relief for me now. Sorta like your approach to your poem, with the "di dee dum / ho ho" ~ I also doubt that anyone marching into war are saying or singing these words. I know that he meant no offense.
~ Elizabeth
I laughed out of comic relief. Not only did I "get" the comical reference, but I remembered a specific comment I had made that I'd rather be reading about the muffins, et al than be reading and listening regarding the upcoming war [at that time]. It was a relief for me then, and his reference created a relief for me now. Sorta like your approach to your poem, with the "di dee dum / ho ho" ~ I also doubt that anyone marching into war are saying or singing these words. I know that he meant no offense.
~ Elizabeth
Humor
Paula --
All of us are living in a state of dread right now -- it is very, very dark. I'd be the first to criticize humor that I thought cruelly trivialized the obscene and catastrophic horror that war brings upon its victims (on all sides).
But there is a place for humor --call it "dark" humor, "black" humor, or what you will-- even in times as dark as these. Remember the inmates of the concentration camps who spat in the fact of the Uholy and played violins and other stringed instruments as the air outside their barracks darkened with the choking smoke from the Ovens? They weren't joking, of course, but they understood that sometimes the only possible defense against the darkness is to try to bring down some semblence --some memory, some dream or prayer-- of Light.
Leonard himself once suggested that "laughter is a fist in the face of the gods." I'd like to suggest that now's as good a time as any to do the Ali shuffle, float like a butterly and sting like a bee, and get those laughing fists rollling and roiling. I wanna give a coupe of know-it-all war gods a friggin' black eye.
All of us are living in a state of dread right now -- it is very, very dark. I'd be the first to criticize humor that I thought cruelly trivialized the obscene and catastrophic horror that war brings upon its victims (on all sides).
But there is a place for humor --call it "dark" humor, "black" humor, or what you will-- even in times as dark as these. Remember the inmates of the concentration camps who spat in the fact of the Uholy and played violins and other stringed instruments as the air outside their barracks darkened with the choking smoke from the Ovens? They weren't joking, of course, but they understood that sometimes the only possible defense against the darkness is to try to bring down some semblence --some memory, some dream or prayer-- of Light.
Leonard himself once suggested that "laughter is a fist in the face of the gods." I'd like to suggest that now's as good a time as any to do the Ali shuffle, float like a butterly and sting like a bee, and get those laughing fists rollling and roiling. I wanna give a coupe of know-it-all war gods a friggin' black eye.
"Nothing is said that is not sung."