I
Of the night and the fields
II
To the refusals to the night to the insults to the blows
III
Here is the void that stares at you
Your death will serve as an example
IV
Spilled heart death
V
sky earth water sleep
And the misery
Of your life
VII
They persevere they exaggerate they
are not from our world
XII
Men for whom this treasure was wasted
XIII
Fuel the consuming fire of hope
Let's open together the last bud of the future
Guernica's Victory
"Natural Course", 1938
In the matchbox that the dwarf has just opened to let in air and light
up his dark recesses, all the dwarves rushed to their leader to help him solve
an enigma that the leader of the dwarves had wanted to keep to himself.
The dwarf stood up, sweating in his dressing gown and disturbed by the
pounding of his heart, which the other dwarves could clearly hear. Impatient,
they kept pinching and begging him until they finally forced him to reveal the
secret of the dream that fascinated him.
The dwarf then disclosed to them:
I dreamed I was a great pharaoh, wearing a golden beard and sitting on a
golden throne... I was surrounded by priests and astrologers who, interpreting
my dream, unanimously decided that the duty was to kill all the newborns of the
world in the current year.
The court interpreted in this dream as a good omen and even elevated it
to the status of a vision, while allowing the chief dwarf to believe in a
glorious destiny, thus making him seem like a chosen one from heaven and
viewing the promised land as an ideal place for the realisation of that dream.
But the dwarf, shouting in anger, shouted at them:
"Where do you
see greatness in my dream? That of killing children, repressing abandoned
orphans and shedding blood?"
All the dwarves replied with one voice:
“This is truly
greatness, and killing remains a method to achieve it. This is the doctrine the
pharaohs themselves follow and uphold!"
The matchbox, which served as a bedroom for the dwarves, was invaded by
waves of joy and cheers, but a wise dwarf, Haman, took the floor to advise the
entourage to adopt prudence and pragmatism to achieve their vision.
The chief dwarf, all concerned, leaps up to question his assembly:
"But how to
achieve this greatness?"
Haman, the wise dwarf, stepped
forward to answer the chief dwarf:
"It's a pure
question of will, chief."
But the chief dwarf dreaming of greatness retorted:
"But we are
only dwarfs and they are giants?"
Haman interrupted him:
"The image
that man attributes to himself is always, for others, the image that they see
and in which they believe, even if it is unfavourable to them. Why wouldn't we
want to reverse this order of things and thus behave like giants, treating them
like dwarfs?"
The dwarf who was still dreaming of his greatness resumed his refrain:
"But we are
only dwarfs and they are giants!"
"It's a
question of will", reminded the dwarf Haman.
"It is not the
will that is lacking," replied the dreamy dwarf.
The dwarf Haman continued his clarification:
"But after the
will, we can discuss the strategy adopted to accomplish this will and make it
tangible.
"So, what are
you waiting for? Hurry!" exclaimed the dreamy dwarf. It's up to you to
plan everything and enlighten me afterwards.
The dwarves joined the council of grievances and threw their sticks, which immediately transformed into crawling serpents.
Bloodbath,Rule with an iron fistDestruction by fire, purificationBlood, murder, extermination…
The dwarf exclaimed, shouting:
"How can
dwarves perform all this?"
Complete silence enveloped the matchbox.
While everyone scrambled to solve the mystery, a dwarf who had not yet
shared his opinion stepped forward and placed down a suitcase after carefully
dusting it off. He emptied the contents of the briefcase in front of the
bewildered dwarf, still dreaming of greatness, and spoke to him very softly.
"Here are your
tools, you'll need nothing else."
Surprised, the chief dwarf asked him:
But these are masks! This might be used to perform a theatrical comedy
on stage or in front of an audience who loves theatre, but this has nothing to
do with our immediate concerns.
Confidently, the dwarf mountebank answered him:
"Theatre,
stage, and audience are boundless, just like comedy itself. All you need to do
is excel in your role-playing game to accomplish your mission, anywhere and at
any time."
The dreamy dwarf still could not believe it and insisted:
"But these are
masks meant for comic purposes!"
The dwarf mountebank then tried to explain himself better:
"To make
someone laugh, certainly for me the jester, but not for you, the great one, the
chosen of the sky. These masks will help you achieve your goals more easily as
you mentally plan your strategies. Once your face is covered with this mask,
the soul that corresponds to its face will haunt you, and its grace will
triumph over you. The power contained in these masks will guide you in the
light, and thanks to them, you will succeed in all your future endeavours. This
method is widely proven and used around the world, hence the common refrain:
"History repeats itself!"
The acrobat dwarf was silent for a moment, waiting to see signs of
relaxation on the small face of his leader, who still dreams of his greatness,
then added:
“You will be able
to wear these masks according to the circumstances that have characterised each
character's life. And it is thanks to the blessings of all these emperors,
kings, leaders, and those who have shaped history that you will inevitably
avoid missteps, errors, problems, crises, and all the defeats that may surprise
you.”
Suddenly, the acrobat dwarf began the presentation of his masks. he
named them one by one and placed them all in the hands of his leader, the
dreamer dwarf:
"This mask is
that of Ramses II, that of Che Huang-Ti, and that of Napoleon, that of Hitler,
that of Franco, that of Al-Hajjaj Ben Youssef
Al-Thaqafi, that of Nero, that of Caligula, that of Bokassa,
and that of Holako…"
The dreamy dwarf, overjoyed by the news, cheered loudly and happily:
"Bring me the
masks! Take me back to my dream! Please take me back to my vision! Please take
me back to my prophecy!"
The mask of Pharaoh Ramses II:
“Was it a dream, a nightmare or a vision?
Is it the dream of the king of Yehuda who, by wanting to
kill a single infant, ended up killing all the newborns in the kingdom?!
Could a minority child threaten my throne?
I count on your opinion and I will remember it, you priests. I will
order the extermination of all the newborns of this year, and I will demand
that their cradles spattered with blood be brought to me as irrefutable proof
of their liquidation. Then I will proceed to compare the number of children
killed in my hands and that of the children killed in my dream, and which I
will not reveal to you until I am sure of the execution of my orders and of
your allegiance..."
The voice of Mahmoud Darwish against the mask of
Pharaoh Ramses II:
"I will choose my people,
I will choose from among you the one who will be part of my people,
I will choose one after the other
All descendants of my mother and my religion
I will choose you to be worthy of me
So, stop your applause
To be worthy of me and my love
I will choose my people as the fence of my kingdom,
And the sidewalk of my way,
Get up, O people!
You have been chosen.
How one chooses the diamond!
For every man, a woman,
And for the husband, two children,
In the beginning, will come the boy, then the girl
But no third.
Oh, let love spread according to my tradition!
Then love women. Don't hit them if they sin,
Peace be with you, peace, peace!”
The mask of Che Huang -Ti:
"I am Che Huang-Ti, the first emperor. There was no one
before me. Neither emperors nor kings nor sages. Nobody. Neither Lao Tzu, nor Confucius,
nor Buddha. I am the pioneer, the greatest and the only...
And if you doubt what I am telling you, it is only because of these
books that you read and keep at home. If you doubt what I am telling you, it is
only because of these books that peddle lies and nonsense about me, and you
should bring them back to me tonight to burn them and make them disappear
forever.
In an hour's time, I will issue a decree on this subject, but you
absolutely must not wait for the issuance of this decree to make available to
me all the books destined for the stake.
Whoever dares to disobey me, you will bring him back to me alive so that
I can mark him myself with a hot iron and take him to where he will end his
life building this gigantic wall going from Palestine to China."
The voice of Darwish against the mask of Che Huang-Ti:
"You who pass among fleeting words
It's time for you to go and settle down wherever you want
But do not settle among us
It's time for you to go
You die wherever you want
But do not die among us
We have a lot to do on our land
Here we have the past
The inaugural voice of life
And there we have the present, the present and the future
We have the here below and the beyond
So, get out of our land
From our dry land, from our sea
Of our wheat, of our salt, of our wound
From everything, get out of
Memory's words
Oh, you who pass among fleeting words."
Caligula 's mask:
"I want to play with fireworks!
I want something more attractive and powerful!
However, I need no viewers for the occasion.
I want to have fun all alone, launch my fires on anyone. I want these
fires to reach their targets while burning them to ashes...
How about children as ideal targets for this game!
Any objection?
So, let my fireworks be made from chemicals, white phosphorus and
enriched uranium, and why not Napalm...
The main point is that their heat level must not be below 900°, and our
arsenal reserve needs to be adequate so the party can last a long time. Let's
say twenty-two days...
So, what are you still waiting for?
Give me my games and my lights!"
Darwish's voice against Caligula's mask:
"Our losses: Between two and eight martyrs every day
And ten wounded
And twenty houses.
And fifty olive trees.
Added to this is the structural flaw that
Will reach the poem, the theatrical piece and the unfinished canvas."
Nero's Mask:
To you poets, my poetry has undoubtedly inspired you and put you on the
right path of creation. You have also experienced all the moments ideal for
creating so much that you were ready to burn your wives and children to bring a
single poem into being.
To you poets, I am not the master of fire, but the truth is that fire is
my master, and you understand this better than anyone.
Poetry is deadly, singing is also fatal, as is destruction by fire, and
I excel at strictly following their laws. I am the best at taking advantage of
it and setting an example.
So, accept your fate and confront this barrage of fire beneath your
roof. Suppress your children's fears and silence your wives' laments...
I can't help it; it's the fate of History, and you know very well that
History never pays attention to the pains and hopes of small voices!
The voice of Darwish against the mask of Nero:
"O, you who have eyes
And bloody hands
Know that the night will disappear
Gone are the days of the arrest cell
And the torture of the chains!
Nero is dead
But Rome is alive
With her eyes, she fights!
A few seeds from a dying ear,
And who will fill the river with corn?
Holako 's Mask Khan:
"From the King of kings, whose reign stretches from east to west,
the greatest chief:
In the name of God, he who stretched out the earth and raised the sky,
who knows (…) those (…) who fled before our swords to come and take shelter
here in this province, those who take advantage of all his goods and who
subsequently attack those who govern it...
We are God's soldiers on earth. he created us out of his wrath and
destined us for those who receive his wrath. You have your place throughout the
country provided you act according to our will.
We reserve revenge and correction for you. Seek to defend yourself
through others or cede your destiny to us before the veil is lifted. At that
time, you will only have regrets, which will mislead you.
We show no mercy to those who mourn, nor are we kind to the complainers.
You learned that we conquered the territory, cleaned the country of debauchery,
killed a large majority of people. Now, all you have to do is run away, and all
we have to do is chase you.
What land could welcome you?
What way could save you?
What country would dare to defend and protect you?!
By your misfortune, you will never escape our swords or our omnipotence:
Our horses are now in front, and our arrows are worthy of miracles. Our hearts
are like mountains, and our membership is like grains of sand. Our great
fortresses are impenetrable; the struggle of your soldiers is in vain, and your
wishes against us will not be granted...
I declare your humiliation and decadence, here and now. You endure the
torture of your submission as the penalty for your vanities and excesses. As
for the unjust, they will face their destiny.
Those who desire our war will regret it. Those who seek and claim our
protection will be safe and secure. If you comply with our orders and
conditions, you will receive what we give and endure what we endure. However,
if you oppose our authorities, you will certainly face death (…).
You think we are the disbelievers because we believe you are libertines
and depraved. We, those who have chosen ourselves, are the masters of destiny
and the judgments of wisdom.
The greatest in you is very small in our eyes, and your most beloved
admirer is merely a simple, helpless person. Do not speak too much and give us
your answer immediately before the war roars and hurls its fire at you. We will
neither support you nor calculate for you, nor will you find any aid. Know that
your greatest tricks will be undone, and your country will be empty of you all.
We do you justice by writing to you. Likewise, through our preventive act, we
awaken you,
You are now our sole focus and concern. Peace be with you and with us.
Peace be upon him who obeyed clairvoyance, who feared the dangers of dissent,
and who submitted to the Supreme King.
The voice of Mahmoud Darwish against the mask
of Holako Khan:
"You who stand on the thresholds
Come in,
Drink Arabic coffee with us
You will feel that you are men like us
You who stand on the thresholds of houses
Get out of our mornings,
We would be reassured to be
Men like you."
The mask of Al-Hajjaj Ben Youssef Al-Thaqafi:
Oh, you soldiers! Would you be as I see you exempting yourselves from
the role of destruction for which you are here!
Do you still believe in international charters and treaties, in the
protection and defence of civilians, in the safeguarding of cultural sites and
symbols, and in respect for holy places?!
I warn you!
To all soldiers, I order my final instructions:
Eliminate anything that might hinder you from reaching your goals,
including cultural sites and symbols.
Destroy all the barriers that stand in front of you.
Raze everything, including the mosques.
Remember especially my story with Abdellah Ibn Zubair, who wanted to
flee from me by protecting himself behind the Kaaba. Did he succeed?
No, and a thousand times no.
He believed that I was going to have regard for the founders of la Sainte
Kaaba, of all the angels in heaven, of Adam, the father of humans, and Abraham,
the father of the prophets...
I think you know the end of the story. I destroyed the Kaaba with
flamethrowers, forcing Zoubir to emerge crawling and humiliated. Then I hung
him around his neck to serve as an example to other disobedients like him.
So, if I could act like this with the biggest of the rebels, how do you
show yourselves helpless in front of small children, knowing that you are armed
to the teeth?
Oh, you soldiers! Shave it all! Even if it is the Kaaba!
The voice of Mahmoud Darwish against Al-Hajjaj Ben Youssef Al-Thaqafi:
"This siege will last until the besieger,
Like the beleaguered, realise that boredom is
One of the attributes of Man.”
The mask of Francisco Franco:
How much I hoped to delete the letter G from dictionaries!
I hate the letter 'G' in Guernica and Gaza!
I hate minorities!
I hate revolutionaries!
I hate the resisters!...
The voice of Mahmoud Darwish against the mask
of Francisco FRANCO
"At night, the guitar player walks the streets
And sing in secret
With your poems, O Lorca, he collects alms.
eyes of the wretched
Black eyes in Spain look wary
And the language of love is silent.
The poet digs a grave in his hands
If he talks.
Oblivion forgets to walk under the light of your blood
The flowers of the moon are clothed in blood.
The noblest of swords is a letter from your mouth.
On gypsy melodies.
Madrid's latest news announced that Injury said:
'The patient is satisfied with patience.
They hung Golian at night while the orange blossoms were
Still spreading their fragrance.'
The best news from Madrid
Are those of tomorrow."
Hitler's mask:
"Guernica is just a forest like all other forests.
Three hours is enough to slaughter two thousand boars as you usually do
with other boars in other forests.
In Gaza, we will not accept anything less than this number. The same
applies to properties and all constructions: two thousand houses, two thousand
shops, two thousand pharmacies, two thousand kiosks, two thousand pastry shops,
two thousand bakeries, two thousand laundries, two thousand schools, two
thousand mosques, two thousand dispensaries, two thousand ambulances, two
thousand cafes, two thousand stadiums, and two thousand public baths.
Regarding Guernica, it took us three hours of intense bombardment to
completely burn it, but for Gaza, we will need exactly twenty-two days because
our mission there is more challenging. In Guernica, we burned humans, animals,
trees, and stones, so the case was resolved quickly. Conversely, in Gaza, the
careful selection of victims, especially the emphasis on maximising the number
of children, prolongs our operation since we would be prosecuted before
international courts if we spared the children."
The voice of Mahmoud Darwish against the mask
of Adolf Hitler:
"Now everything is calm as before
But death comes to us with its air, sea and land armada
A thousand explosions in the city
Heroshima , Heroshima
Alone, we listen to the storm of stones
Alone, we listen to what our soul contains, absurd and judicious."
Jean-Bédel Bokassa's Mask:
“This does not need a consultation with the emperor. You should all be
informed of my choices: Kill the children, and if you run out of supplies or
are tired of killing, bring them back to me alive so that I can eat them. There
is no meal as delicious as a child's flesh, skillfully flavoured and spicy in
an Indian style, and grilled over a low heat, seasoned with salt, lemony, and
adorned with multiple dried fruits!
Phew! I'm drooling, I'm dying for such a meal!
Ah, if only my stomach could swallow all the newborns this year! I would
claim them in time without resorting to fire and weapons. Nothing is more
appetising than tender, mellow flesh: that of lambs, wishes, quail, partridges,
small giraffes, and wild zebras."
The voice of Mahmoud Darwish against the mask
of Jean-Bédel Bokassa:
"As if I had died before this moment,
I know this vision, I know that
I go to what I may not know
I'm alive somewhere, and I know
What I want
I will one day be what I want.
I will one day be an idea that neither sword nor book carries away
To the desolate land
Like a rain on a mountain split by
The sprouting of a blade of grass
Neither force will have won
Nor fugitive justice.
I will one day be what I want."
The experimentation of the mask on the face of
a relative of the victims :
If resistance harms our people and causes them any possible harm, we
would oppose self-defence, escalation, and any challenge. We declare this
loudly and clearly before our next and final disappearance: We favour
submission, capitulation, and humiliation while waiting for the heavy storm to
pass. Furthermore, we will do everything to prevent the plans of a few
shameless individuals seeking to push us into an unbalanced confrontation that
could lead to our downfall.
The voice of Mahmoud Darwish against the
experimenters of masks by relatives:
"Arabs, and they obeyed their Byzantium
Arabs, and they opposed their soul
Arabs, and they get lost."
The mask of Napoleon Bonaparte:
Now that everything has been revealed in broad daylight, we realise that
our operation was plotted in secret and that your loved ones did not spill the
beans. Regarding your collaboration with us to help achieve our goals, please
be aware that without your help, we would never have been able to carry out our
expedition, knowing that the magic masks required everyone's participation.
Now that the war your loved ones fought in for aggression has ended,
here is the financial compensation we promised you, in exchange for your
support of our military action against your homeland and your people.
Take the money and don't reach out your hand to punch me because my hand
can never touch that of a man who betrayed his country!"
The voice of Mahmoud Darwish who drops all
masks:
"The mask fell from above the mask onto the mask
The mask has fallen
You have no brothers
No friends, my friend
No citadels,
You have no water,
No drugs,
No sky, no blood, no veils,
No front, no back."
Before international tribunals: Pleading
against the accusation of crimes against humanity:
Regarding your accusations of crimes committed against unarmed
civilians, including using excessive force, taking civilians as shields to
protect against resistance fighters, and employing weapons banned by
international law; as well as the killing of children, women, the elderly, the
disabled, the sick, and journalists; we apologise if our bombings have hit
targets other than children. Our primary objective is the eradication of this
year's newborns. If women are among the victims, it is only because they are
mothers or because they were carrying their children with them when we bombed
them, even after our warnings which we issued everywhere and advised staying
away from children, thus absolving us.
And despite all that, we are prepared to provide material compensation
to the families to help them forget their lost children. For other women, we
warn them that we will return with the same resolve and brutality if they
become pregnant this year and give birth again before the new year.
With “Guernica ”, Pablo Picasso stands up to
paint the new ravage:
Decapitated children's heads
Women's hands covered in henna and blood
human remains
The red of blood on the bricks of the ruined walls
The whiteness of human brains on the ground
Mounds of iron and concrete
charred cars
Human voices moaning under the rubble
Smoke everywhere
The sound of planes veiling the sun
And the consternation of doctors in the face of minor injuries that
cause internal bleeding and then death...
The voice of Michael Heart, singing "We
will not capitulate " on the antenna of GAZA a few seconds before his
bombardment:
"We will not go down
In Gaza tonight."
The voice of Michael Heart, singing "We
Will Not Go Down" over the airwaves outside Gaza ahead of the targeting
and bombardment:
"We
will not go down
In the night, without a fight
You can burn up our mosques, our homes, and our schools.
But our spirit will never die."
The voice of Michael Heart, singing "We Will
Not Go Down" on the airwaves of a universal antenna which emits from
Pluto, the most distant planet of the solar system:
"We
will not go down
In the night, without a fight
You can burn up our mosques, our homes, and our schools.
But our spirit will never die
We will not go down
In Gaza tonight
Women
and children alike
Murdered and massacred night after night
While the so-called leaders of countries afar
Debated on who's wrong or right."
