a poem "We Lived Happily During the War"

[Lisa Walford]

My friends..

After the last few years of trepidation and fear, some of us are testing the waters by going into art galleries, stores, restaurants, and yoga studios. Some of us remain hesitant. It is all part of the shifting landscape of our new now. For how much we looked forward to these moments of personal and collective emergence, the unforeseen and unimagined and unimaginable events in Ukraine leave most of us depressed, horrified, angry, and disheartened. The donations, fundraisers, and prayer circles are helpful, of course. Then there is art. 

Here is a poem written by the Ukrainian poet, Ilya Kaminsky. It is a poem with a double edged sword, and I decided to not read it on Wednesday, after our pranayama class. It sears in many ways. Let me give a little background on Mr. Kaminsky and the context of this poem. 

Kaminsky was born in Odessa in 1977 (modern Ukraine) and immigrated to the United States in 1993, seeking asylum here in the US. He was born deaf, but did regain some hearing with the help of hearing aids when he came to the US. His unique experience of having lived through a period of tremendous political turmoil and economic collapse gives his voice unique power.

This poem is the opening of a two-act play that addresses the willingness of citizens to ignore the acts of a totalitarian government and/or the ability of citizens to stay in their comfy corners unless their own security is threatened. The play is in a book is called Deaf Republic.

I mentioned that his poem wields a double-edged sword. So, when I first read "We Lived Happily During the War" I felt like, and still feel to a certain extent, a privileged citizen who has donated money and who stays up with current events. Yet who is happily planning what I will cook tomorrow night. What more can I do? Then, when I read and re-read it, the line – we (forgive us) – grew on me. The Buddha’s whole message is that there is suffering, intolerable suffering. And there is a way to relieve and even end suffering. His teachings begin with one’s internal journey, for that is where we all start. The Boddhisatva’s vow is that we practice until all beings are free from suffering. This will be a very very long time. Meanwhile, as we practice, as we raise funds for the poor, for the displaced, as we donate our time and blood, we must, at some point, take our chairs into the sunlight. Life goes on.     

"We Lived Happily During the War."

Ilya Kaminsky.

when they bombed other people’s houses, we

protested

but not enough, we opposed them but not

enough. I was

in my bed, around my bed America

was falling: invisible house by invisible house by invisible house.

I took a chair outside and watched the sun.

 

In the sixth month

of a disastrous reign in the house of money

in the street of money in the city of money in the country of money,

our great country of money, we (forgive us)

lived happily during the war.