The poem construct This is the Truth is an imaginary 3-way conversation between two women and an officer of the other side. All words are picture titles and borrowed from Goya's masterpiece The Disasters of War*. The final image (below the poem) is the first image in Goya's book but it is placed last here to show that the cycle of war can only end with the final extinction of humankind, the reason being that truth has died.
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| Against the common good |
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| The sound and the sick |
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| Great deeds - against the dead! |
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| Proud monster! |
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| Truth has died |
This is the Truth
A play for 3 voices.
With or without reason
The same thing again
Disasters of war
For infamous gain
The women give courage
What courage!
Escape through the flames
All this and more
Worse is to beg
This is worse
This always happens
The sound and the sick
What good is one cup?
It serves you right
They do not want to
Nor do these
Or these
On account of a knife
What more can one do?
Rabble!
Barbarians!
Bitter presence!
It is what you were born for!
Unhappy mother
Troupe of charlatans!
They avail themselves
There is no one to help them
Treat them!
Then on to other matters
One cannot look at thisThen on to other matters
Proud monster!
What madness!
There is no more time
The same thing elsewhere
It will be the same
Great deeds - against the dead!
Bury them and keep quiet
Why?
There is something to be gained
Nobody knows why
To the cemetery
Cartloads to the cemetery
Truth has died.
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| Sad presentiments of what must come to pass |
*another Goya posting below this one.
I am sorry but I cant really follow this. I am such a disappointment.
ReplyDeleteIt's just a matter of having 3 voices in your head. They are colour coded so you know who is speaking. The soldier says "Bury them and keep quiet" which is the clue as to what the two women have witnessed. The bodies are taken by the local people to the graveyard rather than being thrown in a pit of lime. It is of course a made up scenario.
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