March 13, 2004

Ditto

Posted by Ted

I’ve written, revised and rejected a number of thoughts about the terrorist massacre in Madrid. I would have liked to have written something like this.

Posted on March 13, 2004 11:40 PM UTC
Comments

And I would have liked to have written something like this:

The Diameter of the Bomb

The diameter of the bomb was thirty centimetres
and the diameter of its effective
range - about seven metres.
And in it four dead and eleven wounded.
And around them in a greater circle
of pain and time are scattered
two hospitals and one cemetery.
But the young woman who was
buried where she came from
over a hundred kilometres away
enlarges the circle greatly.
And the lone man who weeps over her death
in a far corner of a distant country
includes the whole world in the circle.
And I won’t speak at all about the crying of orphans
that reaches to the seat of God
and from there onward, making
the circle without end and without God.

-Yehuda Amichai

As quoted in Norman Geras’ blog: [http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/]. There is more there…

Posted by Colin · March 14, 2004 03:42 AM
Followups

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.