Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Impossible Fact

Tonight my closest friend out of the blue declaimed following poem.

To me it sounds like a variation of a poem by Christian Morgenstern,

But Tetrapilotomos claims it is by "a certain" McSeanagall.


The Impossible Fact

Usmanoff, rich, an aimful rover,
walking in the wrong direction
at a busy intersection
is run over.

"How," he says, his mood restoring
but without his wrath ignoring,
"can an accident like this
ever happen? What's amiss?

"Did the world's administration
fail in free speech's deprivation?
Did police ignore the need
for reducing bloggers' speed?

"Isn't there a prohibition,
barring internet transmission
of a mighty to a wight?
Were the nasty bloggers right?"

Tightly swathed in dampened tissues
he explores the legal issues,
and his shillings soon make clear:
Free speech not permitted here!

And he comes to the conclusion:
His mishap was an illusion,
for, he reasons pointedly,
that which must not, can not be.
[McSeanagall]


The (English version of) the Original (?)

The Impossible Fact

Palmstroem, old, an aimless rover,
walking in the wrong direction
at a busy intersection
is run over.

"How," he says, his life restoring
and with pluck his death ignoring,
"can an accident like this
ever happen? What's amiss?

"Did the state administration
fail in motor transportation?
Did police ignore the need
for reducing driving speed?

"Isn't there a prohibition,
barring motorized transmission
of the living to the dead?
Was the driver right who sped ... ?"

Tightly swathed in dampened tissues
he explores the legal issues,
and it soon is clear as air:
Cars were not permitted there!

And he comes to the conclusion:
His mishap was an illusion,
for, he reasons pointedly,
that which must not, can not be.

6 comments:

  1. Sean, I loved the turn of the poem through the Brit's perspective... Amazing how approaches put a different slant on the world.

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  2. Mylady,
    you are very welcome.
    Tetrapilotomos - of course - living up to his name, murmured something like "citizen of the world" and "global perspective", but his eyes smiled.
    And so did I. :)

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  3. Very well expressed.

    But are the powers that be listening?

    Or are we truly powerless?

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  4. very interesting Sean..))

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  5. Yes but none the less for all that. A wonderful poem.

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  6. Crushed,
    I shall pass your compliment to McSeanagall. It will surely encourage him to follow the paths of William McGonagall, the Topaz of poetry. :)

    As for your questions: "Doubt is not a pleasant mental state but certainty is a ridiculous one", Voltaire once stated.
    In this sense, my mental state is not extraordinary pleasant.
    Perhaps I should have quoted Sophokles? "In a just cause the weak will beat the strong." :)

    Hans,
    indeed. Thinking of the wordpress ban for Turkish bloggers one does just have to exchange the protagonist's name. :)

    James,
    what shall I say?!
    Thank you very much, Mylord. :)

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