Sunday 5 August 2007

Found it!!

In years gone by, I would have committed this poem to memory. With my increasing reliance on the belief that I can find almost every piece of information in the public domain online, I now remember only the titles of poems, or the odd line or phrase. Without these clues, Google is useless. I am lost. Lost.

Hence, I have spent countless* hours over the last month or so searching for one particular Primo Levi poem. Having now found it somewhere and remembered why I was so desperate to find it (despite this version relying on DIY punctuation, the rawness of anger and streaks of bitterness that I've not found in any of Levi's other writings are blazingly clear), I've linked it below so I can find it more easily when I'm away from my bookmarks and forget all its words so you can read it, too.

Song of Those Who Died in Vain


*Certainly more than the nearly two hours I spent searching for the average lifetime of compact fluorescent tubes, and probably more than the time I invested in trying to find a satisfying reason for why alphabets arrange their letters in the same order, give or take the odd letter. Is this another Prize Geek Moment I've notched up?

3 comments:

DJ Kirkby said...

I adore this, how beautiful.

But Why? said...

dj,

Thanks - I love the steady, controlled rage that this poem oozes, and the invincibility of the dead. I find it wonderfully powerful stuff.

Fire Byrd said...

This was a really tough poem to read.So brutal, but at the same time what needs to be said to make us face the realities of what's going on.
px