Nausea

Tags

arms, chaos, devastation, human values, lunacy, nausea, news, peace, reason, sanity, sorrow, turmoil, war, words

Cover of the

Hardback Edition, 178 pages

Published June 1969 by New Directions Publishing (first published 1938)

 

 

 

I used to get angry at Sartre

for writing prose under that title

I no longer do

because I get nausea every time I read the news,

the balance of my bank account

seems less catastrophic

compared with what’s happening in the world,

here, there and everywhere

In need of a saviour to forget the misery,

I cling to words like a life jacket,

and try to create a world where

things happen differently,

not an utopia,

but one where values still exist

to encourage me that all the things

I have learned have not gone to waste.

 

I want to change it all,

return it back to sanity,

but I’m powerless with my weak voice

against the chorus of lunacy

 

Shall I accept it and keep quiet?

What about integrity and perseverance?

Don’t they no longer matter,

the things that make us human?

So the pen seems to be the only weapon

against the arms that create havoc on Gaia

Maybe someone will listen and ponder,

watching the devastation of dust and fumes,

after the guns have exploded.

 

Words, he said, as well,

so I listen to the master’s voice,

and try to cure my nausea

with my only tool to bring reason

to the madness that surrounds us,

despite the turmoil of wars.

Advertisement