{"id":133118,"date":"2019-05-20T12:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T11:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=133118"},"modified":"2019-05-07T12:16:26","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T11:16:26","slug":"on-my-88thbirthday-a-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/05\/on-my-88thbirthday-a-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"On My 88thBirthday: A Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Poem at\u00a0Springtime<\/strong><\/p>\n

Theodor Adorno\u2019s unforgettable remark of 1983 continues to challenge and even haunt: \u201cTo write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.\u201d<\/em> \u00a0When I first encountered such a startling sentiment, I was grateful to be reminded that to engage normally involves turning a blind eye toward acute and massive suffering, at least briefly.<\/p>\n

Today there are many horrors inflicted on innocent decent people whether on the southern border of the United States, Rakhine State in Myanmar, Gaza, Yemen, Syria, Honduras, among the poor and strife-ridden everywhere.\u00a0 Yet to be on the side of justice is to embrace the glories of life, and to live well is to dream poetically.<\/p>\n

My short poem is intended as a gesture of celebration, a welcoming of Spring in dark times, indefensible yet indispensable. Maybe also somewhat self-indulgent, an undeserved respite from grief and grievances.<\/p>\n

Berlin, 13 Nov 2018 – Rev. 20 Apr 2019<\/em><\/p>\n

**********************<\/p>\n

\n

On My 88th<\/sup>Birthday: A Reflection<\/h3>\n

To be almost 90
\nAnd happy
\nWith good health<\/p>\n

Feels almost criminal
\nAmid Satanic happenings
\nRaising Images too dark
\nTo seem real<\/p>\n

Children in Gaza
\nAre shot and killed
\nFriday after Friday
\nBy designated assassins<\/p>\n

Khashoggi\u2019s murder
\nAn unspeakable crime
\nYet only a PR problem
\nFor hard men of power<\/p>\n

Events this dark
\nAnd this numerous
\nForm storm clouds<\/p>\n

Will despair be our fate?
\nIs this truly our world?
\nAre we even meant to survive?<\/p>\n

My hope\u2013 to live
\nLong enough to shout
\nAn everlasting \u2018No\u2019<\/p>\n

And may so affirming
\nBecome my last word
\nBecome my testament
\nOf hope for all that lives<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

__________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Richard Falk is a member of the TRANSCEND Network<\/a>, an international relations scholar, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University,<\/em> Distinguished Research Fellow, Orfalea Center of Global Studies,\u00a0UCSB, author, co-author or editor of 40 books, and a speaker and activist on world affairs.\u00a0In 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council<\/a> (UNHRC) appointed Falk to a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur<\/a> on “the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories<\/a> occupied since 1967.” Since 2002 he has lived in Santa Barbara, California, and taught at the local campus of the University of California in Global and International Studies, and since 2005 chaired the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. His most recent book is <\/em>Achieving Human Rights (2009).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Poem at Springtime<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":115837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[868],"class_list":["post-133118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-format","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}