Weekly Rec #2

So I was reading some German poetry a while ago, and found a poem I loved. I translated it (badly) for my family, and naturally the translation was saved into My Documents. I found it again today, after a line from it stuck in my head.

'Weitere Gründe dafür, dass die Dichter lügen', or 'Further Reasons for the Poets to Lie'

Weil der Augenblick,
in dem das Wort ‚glücklich‘
ausgesprochen wird,
niemals der glückliche Augenblick ist.
Weil der Verdurstende seinen Durst
nicht über die Lippe bringt.
Weil im Munde der Arbeiterklasse
das Wort ‚Arbeiterklasse‘ nicht vorkommt.
Weil, wer verzweifelt,
nicht Lust hat, zu sagen:
„Ich bin der Verzweifelnder.“
Weil Orgasmus und ‚Orgasmus‘
nicht miteinander vereinbar sind.
Weil der Sterbende, statt zu behaupten:
„Ich sterbe jetzt“,
nur ein mattes Geräusch vernehmen lässt,
das wir nicht verstehen.
Weil es die Lebenden sind,
die den Toten in den Ohren liegen
mit ihren Schreckensnachrichten.
Weil die Wörter zu spät kommen,
oder zu früh.
Weil es also ein anderer ist,
immer ein anderer,
der da redet,
und weil der,
von dem da die Rede ist,
schweigt.

My translation is as follows:
Because the moment
In which the word ‘happy’ is spoken
Is never the happy moment.
Because those dying of thirst
Have their thirst stuck in their throats.
Because in the mouths of the working class,
The word 'working class' never occurs.
Because those who despair
Have no desire to say,
'I am the despairing.'
Because orgasm and 'orgasm'
Are not compatible with each other.
Because the dying, instead of declaring,
'I am now dying,'
Only let out a dull sound
Which we do not understand.
Because it is the living
Who pester the dead
With their terrible news.
Because the words come too late,
Or too early.
Because it is therefore another,
Always another,
Who says it.
And because he
From whom the speech is
Keeps silent.

I enjoyed it more in the original German; I think some of it is lost in translation.

Weekly Rec #1

I thought I'd start doing a weekly entry on something that really got to me - not in a negative way, but something that struck a chord when I didn't expect it to.


The first is a comic called A Softer World, which is one of my favourite sites when it comes to witty commentary, good visuals and its often bizarre non-sequitur final panels.



This one took me by surprise. I honestly have no desire to kill myself, but I actually agreed with this comic. It reminded me of a blog entry I read once.

"Here's the Plan. One day out of every year, we stop the whole thing. For 24 hours, we get to ignore time entirely. We'll pick up exactly where we left off. Most of us won't even know it happened. We'll go from tuesday, to the void, straight on into wednesday. No one can possibly complain about this. Except for a couple astronomers, but fuck them, nobody cares what they think anyhow. Just think of the magic of it. For one day, you don't have to sleep, you don't have to eat, you don't have to fuck, you don't have to work, play, love, hate, stress, relax, everybody just gets to stop."

Why is this idea of just stopping - for an hour, a day, forever - so attractive? And is the fact that I welcome this prospect one reason for never becoming religious? It hardly makes death an unattractive prospect, just an inevitable end. In Final Fantasy IX, the 'black mages' manufactured by the main antagonist as a fighting force develop consciousness and form their own society away from the already 'civilised' areas, living a peaceful, curious and investigative life. One day they realise that some of their group are 'stopping', and that their lifespans are drastically shorter than those of the other races. They don't react badly to this, they just accept it and carry on with their lives until that final moment. Why doesn't humankind do this?

It would be nice to have a discussion on this, but I most likely couldn't articulate my sentiments verbally, so this will have to do.