Drops of Wine

*Try To Praise The Mutilated World*

Try to praise the mutilated world.
Remember June’s long days,
and wild strawberries, drops of wine, the dew.
The nettles that methodically overgrow
the abandoned homesteads of exiles.
You must praise the mutilated world.
You watched the stylish yachts and ships;
one of them had a long trip ahead of it,
while salty oblivion awaited others.
You’ve seen the refugees heading nowhere,
you’ve heard the executioners sing joyfully.
You should praise the mutilated world.
Remember the moments when we were together
in a white room and the curtain fluttered.
Return in thought to the concert where music flared.
You gathered acorns in the park in autumn
and leaves eddied over the earth’s scars.
Praise the mutilated world
and the grey feather a thrush lost,
and the gentle light that strays and vanishes
and returns.

Adam Zagajewski

Trans from the Polish by Clare Cavanaugh

In light of the many recent waves of violence and tragedy that have swept through not only Charlottesville, but the nation as a whole, I find myself drawn to this poem by Zagajewski.  Yes it is dark.  Yes it is bleak.  Yes there is rage at the center of his poem "Try to Praise the Mutilated World" - but there is also hope, I think.

I'm reminded specifically of Tyler Clementi and the others who took their own lives because mankind could not see fit to treat them with the dignity that all human beings deserve.  I am reminded of the two U.Va. students who have been sexually assaulted because of passions which were out of control.  And I wonder, when will we begin to treat one another with decency and respect.  Weren't we all created equal under the unconditional love of whomever created us, whomever breathed that first breath of life into us. 

Sometimes I wonder where we as a society went wrong.  I wonder whether there was anything in particular that we did.  But that can't be it.  But we're certainly responsible for our own actions, and thus, have created the world in which we live.  Would it be too much to ask of ourselves to hold ourselves to some form of a social contract wherein we do unto others as we would have them do unto us?  

As Zagajewski writes "You watched the stylish yachts and ships; / one of them had a long trip ahead of it / while salty oblivion awaited others."  We have watched these terrible things happen and been silent.

We cannot be silent any longer.  We must stand up for what is right, for what is just.  And so ask yourself, what is right, what is just?  

I have an opinion and that is:  we must let our voices be heard and let it be known that we will NOT tolerate this any longer.  Our voices should be saying "Respect the dignity of EVERY human being, no matter their creed, appearance, lifestyle - or anything."  

My heart goes out for those voices that have been silenced by our bigotry and hate.  A testimony of a self was lost in Tyler Clementi's unwarranted suicide: and that is simply a tragedy, a horrific injustice both to and on behalf of the human race.  

And in Zagajewski's own words, in order to praise this mutilated world, we must "Return to the concert where the music flared .../...and the grey feather a thrush lost, / and the gentle light that strays and vanishes / and returns."