http://www.opendemocracy.net/arts-Literature/article_1211.jsp Comments for "Hammurabi, the exalted prince who made great the name of Babylon!, Ariel Dorfman " en http://www.opendemocracy.net/arts-Literature/article_1211.jsp <p> I bite my tongue and try not to curse you<br /> I bite my tongue and try not to wish upon you<br />       what you visited on me and mine <p> my voice that ordered laws<br /> to be engraved for all to see and hear<br /> orphans and widows <blockquote> no no do not place that curse upon him they say to me <br /> they say to Hammurabi the protecting King<br /> those who accompany me in the green dark of death<br /> that is not what we do in the green dark of death </blockquote> my <a href=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/hamframe.htm target=_blank>code</a><br /> even slaves had rights<br /> even women cast out by their husbands<br /> adopted sons prostitutes patients<br /> even the oxen in the fields<br /> builders barbers sailors<br /> they all had rights<br /> even the oxen in the fields <p> my words that have survived four thousand years<br /> invasions depredations despoilment plunder<br /> Persians Mongols Ottomans Arabs British<br /> the first written words <blockquote> of history</blockquote> for all to know and see <p> Hammurabi shield of the land <br /> that now lies <blockquote>broken shattered made dust</blockquote> the many words of Mesopotamia <p> You could have stopped this<br /> Rumsfeld Lord of the Looters <br /> Lord of the Black Dawn <p> the statuettes of birds and goddesses<br /> crushed by hammers sliced by knives<br /> the scrolls painted by these hands<br /> that surround me in the mother dark<br /> gone all gone <p> only my words written in stone<br /> still with me here on this other side <blockquote> not for cursing they say to me <br /> not what we do here they say <br /> <br /> in the life after the dark of life<br /> we teach they say to me<br /> we wait they say to me<br /> clothed in green gentleness<br /> the mothering dark </blockquote> and yet and yet<br /> Rumsfeld Rumsfeld <br /> who did not defend the words and the widow<br /> if I do not curse you, who will? <br /> <p> the tyrant who has fled or is dying dead? <br /> the tyrant who broke my code? <br /> the people of my earth who cannot speak <br /> for fear of the new occupant of the throne? <br /> the far people at your homeland<br /> muzzled by ignorance and dread<br /> who pray to you their protector? <p> I am Hammurabi <br /> shepherd of the oppressed and the slaves<br /> I am the good shadow spread over the city <p> Who else is there left to speak? <br /> If any one steal the property of a temple he shall be put to death <p> If any one steal the minor son of another he shall be put to death <p> If any one break a hole into a house he shall be put to death <blockquote> No no no they say to me<br /> we do not believe in death<br /> not an eye for an eye they say </blockquote> If a fire break out in a house and he who comes to put it out cast his eye upon the <br />property of the owner of the house, he shall be thrown into that self-same fire <p> He shall be thrown into that self-same fire <blockquote> No no no they beg of me <br /> not a tooth for a tooth they say </blockquote> He shall read my inscriptions and stand before me <blockquote> not a tooth for a tooth they say </blockquote> may the years of your rule be in groaning<br /> years of scarcity years of famine<br /> darkness without light<br /> the removal of your name and memory from the land <blockquote> not his children they say to me<br /> do not say it they say to me </blockquote> may <a href=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/codeind1.htm target=_blank>Nintu</a> the sublime mistress of the lands<br />      the fruitful mother<br /> deny you a son<br /> give you no successor among men<br /> the pouring out of your life<br /> like water into the mouth of the desert<br /><br /> nothing lower than you<br /> day turned into night <p> If not Hammurabi then who will speak? <br /> Hammurabi the provider of food and drink<br /> Who clothed the gravestones of Malkat with green <p> If I do not <p> may the damnation of Shamash overtake you<br /> deprived of water among the living<br /> and spirit below in the earth<br /> day turned into night <br /> thrown into that self-same fire<br /> that fell upon the children and the books<br /> <p> If I do not curse the transgressor <p> I bite my tongue and try not to say these words<br /> I bite my tongue and try not to say the words<br /> that have lived for four thousand years<br /> and are now smashed in the rubble <br /> of the land that was once Babylon <p> If I do not curse you <p> my code and your code broken in the ruins <br /> your glory and my glory gone gone all gone <p> If I do not curse you, who will dare? <p> <div class="full_image"><p><img src="http://www.opendemocracy.net/content/articles/1211/images/hammurabi.jpg" alt="Hammurabi the law giver"width="555" border="0" /><br /></div><p> <a href=www.adorfman.duke.edu target=_blank>Ariel Dorfman</a> has just published <i>The Burning City</i>, a novel he wrote with his youngest son, Joaquín; and <i>Exorcising Terror</i> - the incredible unending trial of General Augusto Pinochet. <div class="rating-item"><div class="rating" id="rating_mean_1211"><div class="rating-intro"><span class="rating-intro-text">Average rating</span></div><div class="star avg on"><a style="width: 100%;" onclick="return false;">&nbsp;</a></div> <div class="star avg on"><a style="width: 100%;" onclick="return false;">&nbsp;</a></div> <div class="star avg on"><a style="width: 100%;" onclick="return false;">&nbsp;</a></div> <div class="star avg on"><a style="width: 100%;" onclick="return false;">&nbsp;</a></div> <div class="star avg on"><a style="width: 100%;" onclick="return false;">&nbsp;</a></div><div class="num-votes">(<span id="rating_num_votes_1211">1</span> vote)</div></div><form action="/crss/node/1211" method="post" id="rating_form_1211" class="rating" title="Rating: 5.0"> <div><div class="form-item"> <label for="rating_options_1211">Rate this: </label> <select name="edit[rating]" class="form-select rating-options" title="Rate this" id="rating_options_1211" ><option value="0">---</option><option value="100" selected="selected">Excellent!</option><option value="80">Great!</option><option value="60">Good</option><option value="40">Quite good</option><option value="20">Not so great</option></select> </div> <input type="hidden" name="edit[nid]" id="edit-nid" value="1211" /> <input type="submit" name="op" value="Submit" class="form-submit" /> <input type="hidden" name="edit[form_id]" id="edit-rating-form-1211" value="rating_form_1211" /> </div></form> </div> http://www.opendemocracy.net/arts-Literature/article_1211.jsp#comment middle east Ariel Dorfman arts &amp; cultures literature Original Copyright Thu, 08 May 2003 23:00:00 +0000 1211 at http://www.opendemocracy.net