The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> between the lines....

between the lines....
Posted by pancho (Guest) - Friday, June 22 2007, 22:44:48 (CEST)
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Reading carefully I see a poem about a dream of an ancient land. It`s straight forward enough. What catches my eye the most is the end.


>How sad I felt for my ancestors
>They fought so hard for this nation,
>Without them we would never be known
>As the Cradle of Civilization.

...I don`t relate to the sadness. All things, certainly all empires, pass. It has to be that way. Things have to die...but that isn`t the important part, neither is it a tragedy. People, all people, have good reason to be proud of all that the ancients built. The Assyrians had every chance and used them all to the full, to invent, imagine, build, attain, enjoy etc. They lacked for nothing...except immortality which, as Gilgamesh learns, isn`t for mortals. It`s perfectly logical that the Hebrews would have invented a Messiah with the promise of someone doing something for them...such a thing never crossed an Assyrian`s mind...he and she were more than capable of doing it for themselves...and they did. And then they died...let us instead take great pleasure and satisfaction in all that they left behind them...their gifts to the rest of us....one of which WASN`T Christianity!
>
>I threw my book down in anger
>And all I could feel was the shame,
>After all that our ancestors had done for us
>We still can’t remember our name.

...I don`t see the cause for shame. It seems to me slightly ditzy to imagine that anything will last forever...people and civilizations get tired...it`s normal...nothing to be ashamed about. As far as the "our name", this presents interesting conjecture, after Dr Joseph`s book. Which name have "we forgotten"? The poet here is assuming that she and us are direct descendants of the ancients she`s just visited...that, alas, is part of the dream....I would say that the poet has remained in a trance. There are no direct descendants left..as there are no Goths or Aztecs or Lombards. But there certainly are people alive today who feel an indescribable affinity to the ancients...and this poet is one of them. But there`s no tragedy and certainly no cause for shame...not unless you`re a ditzy nationalist, in which case you should be ashamed of yourself and no one else.
>
>
>W Gabriel Dinkha



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