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Wed 9 Jun, 2004 01:00 pm
Man
by Nina Cassian
Roy MacGregor-Hastie, trans.
While fighting for his country, he lost an arm
and was suddenly afraid.
'From now on, I shall only be able to do things by halves.
I shall reap half a harvest.
I shall be able to play either the tune
or the accompaniment on a piano;
but never both parts together.
I shall be able to bang only one fist
on doors, and worst of all
I shall only be able to half hold
my love close to me.
There will be things I cannot do at all,
applaud for example,
at shows where everyone applauds.'
From that moment on, he set himself to do everything with
twice as much enthusiasm.
And where the arm had been torn away
a wing grew.
Wow! Finally found something for which I had been searchin. Now, is I could just find "John Doe, Jr". ..............................................
Thanks letty ... it is very nice and sad poem .... it made me think of lots of things on my life .... before i lose my arm ...
thanks ....
Oh, hail. So dear a thought. We're all the poem, I suppose.
No i am not .... thanks again
Is this the John Doe poem? Or is it something completely different?
Where is he now, the man I knew
Before, alas, he turned into
A demagogue who changed his mind,
A turncoat who soon left behind
The dreams he'd pledged he would pursue?
A man who once made much ado
About reforms long overdue
And vowed to right the wrongs he'd find -
Where is he now?
He told us then, he promised true,
Hypocrisy would be taboo,
Integrity would be combined
With thrift and justice color blind,
Less government of me and you -
Where is he now?
Drom, That's not the one that I was thinking about.
Here is an explication of the basic ideas, and a few of the lines.
John Doe was so shy (defeated by diffidence), that he never got included in any activities among his peers.
He joined the military and they kept him only long enough to lose him--"among the missing"
The title, of course, represents his lack of identity.
Gah! I found something about John Doe's being 'among the missing,' in a poetry website's synopsis-- the website was called 'Lost quotations.' Ironically, the website is now lost, too.
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