Like a thousand chimes at midnight[1]
A reminder
what Great is[2]
Showing their color[3]
Have they heard?[4]
Have they been afraid?[5]
To what end?
Is this,
the Marathon we heralded[6]
The Jodl we claimed[7]?
What of the 12
The Children of the Sun[8]
In the kingdom of heaven?[9]
This work
Of man[10]
This sound in motion[11]
not the quiet of ages
Only with the clash[12]
Of damming a creek[13]
Of cruelty[14] and censure[15]
the quiet comes
And the sleep…[16]
[1] Reference to The Second part of King Henry IV by Willian Shakespeare, Act 3, Scene 2, where Falstaff reminisces with Shallow about the good old days where they stayed up all night partying, “We have heard the chimes at midnight, Master Shallow,” but it can also be interpreted to mean that they are old enough now to hear their end coming, which is how it is being used here.
[2] Reference to the Arabic expression “God is Great,” with the implication being that this action was blessed by God even though it hurt some who use that expression. Also a reference to Exodus 14:31 “And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians…”
[3] Reference to bleeding caused here, as well as using the meaning of colors as flags, as those where who were hit were revealed to be serving under the “colors” i.e. the flag of a certain group as in “showing their colors” or “striking the color.””
[4]See below footnote 5
[5] Reference again to Henry IV and “hearing the chimes, “ but also to Exodus 15:14 “The people shall hear, and be afraid,”
[6] Reference to the herald who let the Greeks know about the victory over the Persians at Marathon, important here because it was a decisive victory
[7] Reference to the German general, Jodl, who signed the Nazi’s unconditional surrender
[8]The children came from a town called “Majdal Shams” which means Tower of the Sun in Aramaic
[9] They died and therefore a reference to the New Testament description as Heaven as a Kingdom Luke 9:2)
[10] Reference to Psalms 127 “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain,” and to the liturgical poem of the High Holidays, “Maseh Elokinu.”
[11] Reference to the pagers, as pagers were originated by the American company Motorola, whose name means sound in motion
[12] Reference to Samuel P. Huntington (and Camus phrase) theory “The Clash of Civilizations,” that after the fall of the USSR the next great conflict would be between Islam and the West
[13] Reference to Andrew Jackson fight against the Creek indians and the type of terrible violence he used to deliver complete victory
[14] Continuing the Jackson reference
[15] The Censure was a Roman official, a magistrate in the Republic whose power was absolute in his area of responsibility. Also a reference to “Harem” in the Bible, which refers to the complete elimination of tribes.
[16] Peace that is as “peaceful as death. Reference to the popular piece of folk wisdom that there will be time to sleep in the grave. As well to the sleep of death like in Hamlet’s Soliloquy…”by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to.”Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 1) as well Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.”
Photo credit: Kasarp Techawongtham
