Hugh Fitzgerald: A French poet’s tribute to the Jewish woman murdered by a Muslim
Excerpt: Yann Moix is a well-known French writer and regular guest on the talk show watched by millions, “On n’est pas couche” (which means: “We’re not ready for bed, we’ve still got lots to do”). The other day, in an emotional state, he read out part of a poem he had just written about Mireille Knoll, the 85-year-old Jewish woman who was stabbed to death, and then set alight in her apartment, by one Muslim attacker, while another Muslim apparently watched. The actual killer had been the neighbor of Mireille Knoll, whom he had known, and who had befriended him, for 20 years. Here is the poem, in English and then in the original French. Liberties have been taken with the literal translation only where necessary to better preserve the sense.
Dear Madame,
Spared by fate at the time of the velodromes,
Snatched away by chance from German crimes,
Death would be waiting for you beyond the pogroms,
Hidden in the madness of Muslim Nazis.
You had escaped from this disgraceful roundup,
Perpetrated by France against a few French citizens,
Whose main crime, and whose striking fault,
Was to have in their blood a God who was not there.
And your people who were hated, hated for their birth,
Know deep down that the blows of those knives, used to tear your flesh,
Were nothing starting up again,
But the same steady hate, and only the executioners had changed.
Your people who were punished, punished for their essence,
Know deep in the night that this auto-da-fé,
Where you were burned alive is the same flourish of evil,
Now endorsed by a different hand.
And your people who were despised,
Despised for their science,
Know deep in their lives that the cremation,
Of a lonely Jewish woman in her old age,
Will forever bear the name of desecration.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment