Les Politiciens
"Where were you, in ’62?”
The school alumni deftly ask.
Reunion: time to pour a brew,
And pop a cork, or drain a cask.
"Allow the troubled world to cease.
We'll dress so fine. We'll have a feast.
Our temps en vie when all was new:
Our sky was blue, in ’62."
La Legion
Your skies were blue, the desert brown.
Your stocks went up, a flag came down.
Diplomas, fine diplomacy
Left rendered lost une Algerie.
The night bright red, the port rouge noir
When to the forts men bade bon soir,
While Charles de Gaulle returned a call
To Jean Paul Sarte, who played his part.
Fey, southward under burning skies
Les anciens ended final ties
And glared a motto toward the sand,
"The Legion is our Fatherland."
They gazed upon the desert towns
Which they (defending, long extending
France's reach to southern beach)
Called once their own. Tous parfait? Non,
But not so sad as what has bad-
ly long ensued, for 50 crude-
ly squalored years, replete with fears,
And squandered tears, and grinding gears
And broken glass, and beaten lass
(lo now becloaked beneath her yoke).
Bonne Algerie, a sundered mass
Might trade that freedom. Think me joke?
Were men less free, when colonies
Bespeckled lands and southern sea?
Were women slaves? Had fled the Jew?
En Algerie, en ’62?
Sonne questions hover in our day.
Bonne Algerie, so lovely? Nay,
No longer beau sans France’s flag,
Lo, stronger? No, askance, does lag.
L’Algerie
"Forsake your pall, O Charles de Gaulle.
Sarte (not Camus) wake your ass to
My cry beneath a darkling sky,
'Bon Hommes we knew, till ’62.
One hundred and a third, they stayed,
Until the gentry-merde you played
That with no statecraft, honor flayed,
Slayed: low, beneath my dust now laid,
Where men made walls and towers built
(now blasted, fades a tarnished gilt),
By foe, etrangere blood was spilt.
Though Legion bayonets, to hilt,
Were also dug. These proud remain
Unlike your smug legerdemain.
Pardonez-vous while we explain:
Bons Hommes were few, in ‘62.
I heard those, too, chant in the gloam,
On golden sand and crusty loam,
And on the strand, by ocean foam:
‘The Legion is our land, and home.’”
"Where were you, in ’62?”
The school alumni deftly ask.
Reunion: time to pour a brew,
And pop a cork, or drain a cask.
"Allow the troubled world to cease.
We'll dress so fine. We'll have a feast.
Our temps en vie when all was new:
Our sky was blue, in ’62."
La Legion
Your skies were blue, the desert brown.
Your stocks went up, a flag came down.
Diplomas, fine diplomacy
Left rendered lost une Algerie.
The night bright red, the port rouge noir
When to the forts men bade bon soir,
While Charles de Gaulle returned a call
To Jean Paul Sarte, who played his part.
Fey, southward under burning skies
Les anciens ended final ties
And glared a motto toward the sand,
"The Legion is our Fatherland."
They gazed upon the desert towns
Which they (defending, long extending
France's reach to southern beach)
Called once their own. Tous parfait? Non,
But not so sad as what has bad-
ly long ensued, for 50 crude-
ly squalored years, replete with fears,
And squandered tears, and grinding gears
And broken glass, and beaten lass
(lo now becloaked beneath her yoke).
Bonne Algerie, a sundered mass
Might trade that freedom. Think me joke?
Were men less free, when colonies
Bespeckled lands and southern sea?
Were women slaves? Had fled the Jew?
En Algerie, en ’62?
Sonne questions hover in our day.
Bonne Algerie, so lovely? Nay,
No longer beau sans France’s flag,
Lo, stronger? No, askance, does lag.
L’Algerie
"Forsake your pall, O Charles de Gaulle.
Sarte (not Camus) wake your ass to
My cry beneath a darkling sky,
'Bon Hommes we knew, till ’62.
One hundred and a third, they stayed,
Until the gentry-merde you played
That with no statecraft, honor flayed,
Slayed: low, beneath my dust now laid,
Where men made walls and towers built
(now blasted, fades a tarnished gilt),
By foe, etrangere blood was spilt.
Though Legion bayonets, to hilt,
Were also dug. These proud remain
Unlike your smug legerdemain.
Pardonez-vous while we explain:
Bons Hommes were few, in ‘62.
I heard those, too, chant in the gloam,
On golden sand and crusty loam,
And on the strand, by ocean foam:
‘The Legion is our land, and home.’”
As a French Foreign Legion soldier, now an "ancien", having been their from 58-62, the poem touches the naked reality of my soul. To have been there was both an honor and a nightmare. Yes to have been there in 62.
ReplyDeleteAdjutant MRY FFL 1958-62 Algerie Aures Mountains.
Thank you a great deal Mark. So you were there. Et maintenant mon ami, vous regardons l'Algerie en le television. C'est vrais: tres mal et meilleur avec la France. To keep from Babel Fish, I mean Better with France.
ReplyDeleteVirgil: "things have tears."
& frankly yours is the first statement anyone's writ outside DKE Fraternity and Demosthenian Literary Society on my lines. I don't know what could've been said I'd want to hear more, and then from FFL Ancien. "Thank you a great deal" definitely pales, but must be said et plus autre choses bon ancien soldat.
ReplyDeleteI do not know much about Algeria's independence but I have seen the film The Battle of Algiers (1966) which depicts some of the events. If you haven't seen this film, you should definitely watch it. It is critically acclaimed in the film industry. I felt similar emotions and had a similar reflection of those portrayed events as I did while reading your poem.
ReplyDeleteThere's a certain theme. You know it was difficult moment in the country's history. They fought for freedom and paid the price for it - their humanity. The terrorism of innocence bystanders/civilians among other things. Forever will their independence be tied to those events.
I definitely enjoyed reading your poem. The imagery in particular is very good. You vividly depict the oppression and tumultuous past of these people. Keep up the good work!
Garland thanks for the read and for the thoughts in return there bro. You are the second to recommend I watch Battle of Algiers. Will take your advice on that one, and do my best to take the advice on keeping the work up as well.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The Battle of Algiers is a fantastic film. I've even heard a rumor it was at one point required viewing for officers heading to Iraq or Afghanistan, though just a rumor. This is a really interesting time in French history, and I mean no offense to any FFL who were there.
ReplyDeleteFrance went through a period similar to the 60's in the United States, where the country was divided on issues like the independence of the territories, in particular Le Maghreb. The divisiveness of these issues arguably climaxed when de Gaulle dissolved parliament in '62. The period is also characterized by a number of assassination attempts made on de Gaulle's life. One of the more infamous attempts is the basis of another excellent film The Day of the Jackal (1971), which was re-created in US starring Bruce Willis.
Very interesting poem.
Thanks for the read hreibman. Prevailing discussions on humble refugees, ambitious pioneers, and aristocratic colonialists seem to overlook that the three categories are not so distinct. Also, where would integration of the colors be without its very humble, very rude beginnings? = I'm a minority report, def.
ReplyDelete