Nob 16, 2012

[Might]

Robert Kennedy:
“Our brave young men are
dying in the swamps of Southeast Asia.

Which of them might have
[killed someone who might have]
written a poem?

Which of them might have [killed
someone who might have
] cured
cancer? Which of them might have

[killed someone who might have] played in
a World Series or given us the gift of
laughter from the stage or

helped build a bridge or
a university? Which of them would have taught
[someone to kill someone who might have taught]

a child to read?
It is our responsibility to let these men live...
It is indecent if they die

[killing]
because of the empty
vanity of their country.”

3 komento:

Susan Scheid ayon kay ...

I find this stunning and would like very much to know what occasioned it at this very moment. Will you say?

Dennis Andrew S Aguinaldo ayon kay ...

Took me a while to answer you because I found that many things brought this poem out.

—The air strikes (ongoing) against Gaza strip.

—Being myself a Southeast Asian.

—A senator of ours (justly) accused by the daughter of Kennedy of blatant plagiarism.

—The limits of Kennedy's rhetoric: it won't necessarily stop US incursion on foreign soil. Through geopolitical, cultural, and technological means, one state can dominate another without sending a single "boy" overseas.

Thank you for asking, Susan. Be early for KWH!

Susan Scheid ayon kay ...

Dennis: Wow, that's quite a list! No wonder the poem was so stunning. Your last comment, about the limits of Kennedy's rhetoric, is particularly powerful.