Lacrimosa dies illa
Where do all the bloggers go,
Self-extinguished?
Where do all the bloggers go,
Tomb-stones away?
Where do all the bloggers go?
To the new reality,
Faces that smile at them,
Words in the here and now.
Far beyond our dialogue,
Self-restricted.
To the land of give and take,
Handshakes? Here's mine.
Welcome raw immediacy,
Touch and sight available,
Humans not cyber code,
Breaths on each brightened cheek.
What must we remainers do,
Writing for survival?
Burdened by longevity,
Word-length is time.
Take the time and build on time,
Make-believe eternity,
Pick from the tones to heart,
Sing out with fervency.
I still your blog and enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI would like to sing this with you RR, as a duet!
ReplyDeleteShould have read in the sentence.
ReplyDeleteAnon: I got your drift. What you say is a comfort.
ReplyDeleteAvus: As a treat you can take the soprano line. I've already sung it (solo) twenty or thirty times, proof that it does scan and the stresses end up where they should.
The dearth of commenters is noticed over on my blog too. BUT, I suddenly get a flurry reacting to some unpredictable stirring of interest - the latest being an almost casual report that I had changed my car.
ReplyDeleteIch bin da, lieber Robbie! Ach, it's been a rough year ... but now that the cold is coming, I expect to flutter about (living up to my 'Rouchswalwe' name) and write more. There are days I compose a blog post in my head and then the activities of the day wash the letters away before I am able to sit and compose.
ReplyDeleteHere are the first few lines from Else Lasker-Schüler's poem 'Abschied'
Aber du kamst nie mit dem Abend -
Ich saß im Sternenmantel.
... Wenn es an mein Haus pochte,
War es mein eigenes Herz.
and I do not continue, for this is not good-bye!
No! We will continue to sing!!!
♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♪
Ah, the decline of blogs! Must say that I get most of my blog comments on Facebook, where I link posts. Every now and then they are so interesting that I add a link in the blogger comments.
ReplyDeleteRW (zS): When we first exhanged bloggisms it seemed like a good idea for me to exhume my long-lost - and always minor - abilities with German. But in those days the topics were no more ambitious than the instructions on packet soup. Now I am doing - struggling to do - poetry. I owe that to you and many thanks.
ReplyDeleteBut here's the problem. There's often a wide difference between the infinitive of a German verb and the form it takes when it is used for real. Yet the dictionary only offers the infinitive. "sass" is a good example: who knows what the infinitive of that is? It might even be "sitzen" though I doubt it. Also I can't even be sure of the tense.
Never mind. I think I get the general sentiment and certainly share it as expressed. Interesting isn't it; both "auf Wiedersehen" and "au revoir" refer to the "next seeing" and may be considered optimistic. "Goodbye" as far as I know doesn't and is therefore pessimistic. So let's be optimistic.
Marly: For twenty minutes I owned a Facebook account then closed it, terrified. The awfulness of seeing my past scattered about, random fashion, was too much for me. Not least two people out of my quite recent past who announced they wished to be "friends". One doesn't announce friendship, one allows it to develop organically. God knows I'm fascinated by technology but a technologically derived acquaintanceship repelled me.
When I started blogging I found myself among people who, one way or another, were interested in writing, who, in particular, sought to transmute everyday events into material with style and wider implications. This can be hard work and the phenomenon was never going to last. I see none of this in Facebook although I must admit my experience is limited to those twenty minutes. The best blogs don't just communicate they explore and invite others to do the same. Your generous comments and re-comments in The Palace at 2 AM suggest you too share this instinct. If we lose you to nomadism then that's a fair swap; if I for one lose you Facebook I shall be irredeemably sad.
Ja, it is 'sitzen'!!
ReplyDeletePoetry ... you, too have inspired me in this realm, lieber Robbie.
Auf Wiedersehen!
p.s.
"God knows I'm fascinated by technology but a technologically derived acquaintanceship repelled me." This is a magnificent sentence. And I agree with what you've written here.