This was in response to the boys who watched a man drown, while ridiculing him
“Your deeds are your monuments” – inscription on Egyptian tomb
In a flicker,
Across the boundaries of time,
I read in granite
“Your deeds are your monuments.”
Throughout this life and the next,
Carry your monument
Of inaction and ridicule,
Feel its density.
Feel its weight,
Like the weight of water,
Pulling a man below
The surface of your conscience.
Powerful writing and an apt sentence. This is certainly the image of the human stain.
Good to have your poetic voice here!
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Thanks! Hoping to make an appearance again once in a while.
😉
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Welcome back! The quote is apropos. Quite! The event was horrific, but you wrote of it with grace and intelligence.
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Thanks! A sad commentary on the dark side of human nature. Glad to be back!
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It is a sad commentary on what a few decades of toxic leadership and toxic culture have done to our “civilization.” Your poem really reaches the heart.
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I just wanted to share something more about your excellent poem. We live in Orlando, about 40 miles from Cocoa. Yesterday, I was introducing our poetry unit in class (I teach HS Seniors – English) and while discussing the wide range of what poetry can do, I shared that I had read a poem the evening before about this horrific event that most of them were keenly aware of. I told them that a powerful poem can do far more than any news story. I am fortunate enough to have a group of kiddos this year who love poetry. 🙂
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I am honored that you chose to share the poem with your class! Aside from teaching conventions, I am always looking for ways to teach the “weight” of (in)action and consequences. Thanks for sharing!
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Conventions!? I’m in a digital school and that little red squiggly line is merely an annoyance!
Yesterday I participated in a lengthy text thread with my daughter, who inherited the nerd gene, about semi-colons and FANBOYS.
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Hahaha! You must love the lower case “I” as much as I do! Edits? Aren’t those just suggestions?! 😉
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Lovely to see you at the bar tonight!
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Well, you had a sneak preview! 😉
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Difficult to imagine the complete lack of empathy for the pain (even death) of fellow humans. What does it take on the individual and collective levels for this dark side to manifest itself? Great write!
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Thank you so much! It is difficult to process events so senseless that they hurt the heart.
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This was a story I felt was unbearable… and it brings up the larger question of complacency… I think we are many that are guilty of inaction all the time and I think the burden of our own inaction is what causes sorrow… (in this case it was so apparent, but I see similar sins committed every day). There are very few countries where there’s a law that make it mandatory to act in saving life. There is one exception and that is the law at sea… so I think if those teens had been on a boat they would have broken the law, but if you are on the shore you are not.
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Yes. The question is what are the responsibilities of being human? Do we not all seek love and acceptance?
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Don’t think I have read you before and like the depth and yet economy in your work, which truly shines a light – will be back for more
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Thanks you so much! Fairly new to the blog-o-sphere, but hoping to make an appearance from time to time. Appreciate your comment!
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I can’t imagine such a scene. I read about tests done in laboratory circumstances where adults were given a remote kind of wired instrument that could inflict pain on another adult behind a one-way mirror. They could see the person but she/he couldn’t see them. And how they continued pressing the button watching the person react in pain. Normal, everyday people like all of us. It’s terrible what we are capable of.
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We all are capable of so much good and evil in the world. We can only hope for greater insight, awareness, and compassion in our shared humanity. Thanks for the read!
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Powerful poem.
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Thank you. Such a dreadful deed.
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This is fabulous. I’m going to carry this with me:
“I read in granite
‘Your deeds are your monuments.'”
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Thank you so much for the read and the comment!
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Excellent, and the last lines are so powerful.
I wish this could be shared with other classes, too.
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Thank you so much for reading and for your comment! I can only hope teachers near and far keep instilling the values that apparently are missing elsewhere in their students’ lives.
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I can’t even wrap my brain around such behavior. You must have to be soulless to stand by and watch another human being die without an urgent feeling that you must come to their aid. Your poem is so powerful and that quote so true, and I love the heart wrenching title. Thank you for your presence at dVerse, I appreciate your participation.
Gayle ~
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Thank you so much for reading and for your comments! This event will always be unsettling for me on so many levels. What commentary is this on our youth? Are we so disconnected as a society that young people no longer empathize with another human being? I can only hope this represents the exception and not the rule.
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I so agree with you…it’s very concerning.
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Wow! Thank you for writing this. I heard about that when it happened and was disturbed and appalled.
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Thank you for reading and for your comment. It is hard to fathom one’s inner thoughts regarding this event.
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Lack of empathy builds monuments perhaps even prisons.
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Agreed. Hard to wrestle with nonetheless. I struggle with the “why”?
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