Jun 2022
The barbarians have come
and they keep coming
century after century
We are polite, we give
them high titles
They give us their laws
in a nice speech
with eloquent words
about civilisation in our wilderness
that we nota bene no longer
need to live like savages
no longer in the wilderness
The barbarians have come
and they keep coming
century after century obedient
to the right and the interests
that threaten them with the strong arm
the hard hand, and a ripped out tongue
and they keep coming
century after century
We are polite, we give
them high titles
They give us their laws
in a nice speech
with eloquent words
about civilisation in our wilderness
that we nota bene no longer
need to live like savages
no longer in the wilderness
The barbarians have come
and they keep coming
century after century obedient
to the right and the interests
that threaten them with the strong arm
the hard hand, and a ripped out tongue
#14 "Periménontas tous Barbárous" ("Waiting for the Barbarians" (1904, Konstantínos Kaváfis)
The Iroquois are the league of the five tribes (nations) Mohawk, Oneida, Onanondaga, Cayuga and Seneca; this league is called Kaianerekowa = Great Law of Peace
In the council of the league are speakers (sachem) those who bring the position of their group and try to convince the others to agree with it (the Aztecs named these speakers 'tlatoani', with Moctezuma as huey-tlatoami [supreme speaker]); it is honorable to be a speaker, but there is no power attached to it, so that the settlers wrongly treated the speakers as 'chief'
Collection "The drama"
The Iroquois are the league of the five tribes (nations) Mohawk, Oneida, Onanondaga, Cayuga and Seneca; this league is called Kaianerekowa = Great Law of Peace
In the council of the league are speakers (sachem) those who bring the position of their group and try to convince the others to agree with it (the Aztecs named these speakers 'tlatoani', with Moctezuma as huey-tlatoami [supreme speaker]); it is honorable to be a speaker, but there is no power attached to it, so that the settlers wrongly treated the speakers as 'chief'
Collection "The drama"
