Remain


By Stephen Cheney


REMAIN
Though
the war-dead remaining in the field
never
return;
yet the
hatred
returns
returns
again
the maimings
                        hereto remain.                      



Image: Cross in the Baltic Sea (edited) - Caspar David Friedrich

Comments

  1. Stephen,

    This poem is heartbreaking yet so beautiful. Anonymous is right: powerful.

    "The hatred returns, returns again"

    That's exactly what we are seeing now, the hatred returning again and again. This could mean the Islamic hatred towards the West, towards itself, or it could mean Anti-Semitism that was supposed to have disappeared after the Holocaust but many insist on bringing it up, again..and...again.

    Thank you, Stephen, for this amazing piece of art.

    Cheers

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  2. The scars of war and hatred even are deep and never seem to heal. I'm new in this blog but think it was a great start!
    You guys have quite a team here. I subscribed so I'm looking forward to reading more.
    Tata

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  3. Sad but we can all relate to it and feel familiarity.It's confusing I know...

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  4. Stephen, a beautiful poem charged with loss and sadness, death is hard on those left behind and we never forget the pain even though we may move on with our life! I agree with Max though when she says that your poem goes beyond death and may talk about other types of death like racism, anti-Semitism or terrorism. Mazal Tov for such a great job!

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  5. We are in war, as in all things, a moment in time. A moment soon to be a memory. Of this memory and the strongly tied emotions, chaotically attached, morphing into motivation at best and at worst, bitterness, but most of the time a chaotic spectrum spilling out in over-compensation, through the remainder of our moment, until we too succumb as a casualty, of what drove us, to become, too, the war-dead remaining in the field. Can we truly learn from what we know, or are we forever victims of human error? The Diversity that is to give our species strength, is also our most errant curse.

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    Replies
    1. We are eternal victims of human error.
      I appreciate the depth of your comment. Thank you.

      Delete
    2. And yet hope is what democracies allow/offer. It allows a necessary component of the human spirit within the context of an artificial environment (society) though with the all too-real-feel that "this is how life is." However artificial a society is relative to the whole world, this is the important mechanism for which societies can exist and where ideas can flourish. It must be protected. Realism is important, but our imagination and the manipulation of reality are also important. Hope is the currency that allows us to move beyond those things about life and death that give real meaning but can also make us feel life has no meaning simultaneously. Manipulation often is used as a pejorative but like everything else, it is just as good/necessary, as it can be, bad/used for evil.

      Delete
    3. Hope is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing for it drives people to keep going; and a curse for it may compel them to sit still waiting for something to happen - and that dichotomy is exactly what democracies play with.
      Realism doesn't have to shun imagination and manipulation of reality; all it has to do is to understand that all things in life obey the rules of nature, of existence. No matter how many turns we give in life, how many illusory explanations are given, it all comes down to the laws of human nature and its dualities - there's no escape from it.
      "Hope is the currency that allows us to move beyond those things about life and death that give real meaning but can also make us feel life has no meaning simultaneously" a beautiful antithesis, isn't it?

      Delete
  6. Olá, stephen!
    "Maimings hereto remain"
    To me is missing somebody so badly that it hurts.
    Small things like a sound a smell and even a simple wave in the sea keep returning and reminding you of that someone thus causing pain in you.
    My maimings are the thoughts in my mind and will remain there forever.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete

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