MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
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NOVEMBER 7, 2012; A TRAGEDY
By Richard Day on Tue, 02/28/2012 - 2:41am |
November 7th, 2012 following the election of Santor'm and the murder of President Barry at the hands of Evangelicals, neocons, white racists, sexists, corporate oligarchists, and blasphemers. The great Josephus arrives at the sepulcher.
The masses collect below his stage presented at the Lincoln Memorial.
JOSEPHUS
Friends, Yankees, Americans, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Barry, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Barry. The noble Santor'm
Hath told you Barry was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And greviously hath Barry answer'd it.
Here under leave of Santor'm and the rest--
For Santor'm is an honorable man;
So are they all, all honorable men--
Come I to speak in Barry's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Santor'm says he was ambitious;
And Santor'm is an honorable man.
For he has brought programs to heal us
And programs to employ the unemployed:
Did this in Barry seem ambitious?
When the poor have cried, Barry hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Santor'm says he was ambitious;
And Santor'm is an honorable man.
You all did see that on election day
Throngs thrice did honor him with homage
Which thrice he did eschew; was that ambition?
Yet Santor'm says he was ambitious
And surely he is an honorable man.
I speak not to disprove what Santor'm spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
Many did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! Thou are fled to sanctifying beasts,
And men have lost their reason, bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Barry,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.
If thou consider rightly of the matter,
Barry has had great wrong.
Has he, masters?
I fear there will a worse come in his place.
Mark'd ye his words? He would not take kudos;
Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious.
If it be found so, some will dear abide it.
Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire with weeping.
There's not a nobler man at home than Antony.
Now mark him, he begins again to speak.
But yesterday the word of Barry might
Have stood against the world; now lies he there.
And none so poor to do him reverence.
O masters, if I were disposed to stir
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
I should do Santor'm wrong, and Romney wrong,
Who, you all know, are honorable men:
I will not do them wrong; I rather choose
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,
Than I will wrong such honorable men.
But here's a document with the seal of Barry;
I found it in his closet, 'twas his will:
Let but the commons hear this testament--
Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read--
And they would go and kiss dead Barry's wounds
And dip their napkins in his sacred blood,
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it as a rich legacy
Unto their issue.
We'll hear the will: read it, Josephus.
The will, the will! we will hear Barry's will.
Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it;
It is not of import that you know how Barry loved you.
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;
And, being men, bearing the hopes of Barry,
It will inflame you, it will make you mad:
'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs;
For, if you should, O, what would come of it!
Read the will; we'll hear it, Josephus;
You shall read us the will, Barry's will.
Will you be patient? will you stay awhile?
I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it:
I fear I wrong the honorable men
Whose daggers have stabb'd Barry; I do fear it.
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
You all do know this mantle: I remember
The first time ever Barry put it on;
'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent,
That day he overcame the repubs:
Look, in this place ran Santor'm's dagger through:
See what a rent the envious Newton made:
Through this the well-beloved Romney stabb'd;
And as he pluck'd his cursed steel away,
Mark how the blood of Barry follow'd it,
As rushing out of doors, to be resolved
If Santor'm so unkindly knock'd, or no;
For Santor'm, as you know, was Barry's angel:
Judge, O Jesus Lord, how dearly Barry loved him!
This was the most unkindest cut of all;
For when the noble Barry saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,
Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart;
And, in his mantle muffling up his face,
Even at the base of Kennedy's statua,
Which all the while ran blood, great Barry fell.
O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us.
O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel
The dint of pity: these are gracious drops.
Kind souls, what, weep you when you but behold
Our Leader's vesture wounded? Look you here,
Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors.
O piteous spectacle!
O noble Barry!
O woeful day!
O traitors, villains!
O most bloody sight!
We will be revenged.
LET US PRAY!
JOSEPHUS
Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up
To such a sudden flood of mutiny.
They that have done this deed are honorable:
What private griefs they have, alas, I know not,
That made them do it: they are wise and honorable,
And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.
I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts:
I am no orator, as Santor'm is;
But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,
That love my friend; and that they know full well
That gave me public leave to speak of him:
For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To stir men's blood: I only speak right on;
I tell you that which you yourselves do know;
Show you sweet Barry's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths,
And bid them speak for me: but were I Santor'm,
And Santor'm, there were a Christian
Would ruffle up your spirits and put a tongue
In every wound of Barry that should move
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.
We'll mutiny.
We'll burn the house of Santor'm.
Away, then! come, seek the conspirators.
Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak.
Peace, ho! Hear Josephus. Most noble Josephus!
Why, friends, you go to do you know not what:
Wherein hath Barry thus deserved your loves?
Alas, you know not: I must tell you then:
You have forgot the will I told you of.
Most true. The will! Let's stay and hear the will.
Here is the will, and under Barry's seal.
To every Roman citizen he gives,
To every several man, rights of citizenship.
Most noble Barry! We'll revenge his death.
O royal Barry!
Hear me with patience.
Peace, ho!
JOSEPHUS
That the hypocritical Evangelists
That the Wall Street Elitists
That corporate oligarchists
That the Roman Catholic Priests
Would fool us
That neocon warmongers
That money making ministers
That capitalist defense contractors
That fascistic radio commentators
That feigned celibate orators
That racist practitioners
That arms-selling predators
Would rape us
That hooligans
That fooligans
That republicans
That armagettons
Would take us
All into a post democratic world
Should not dismay us.
We must be resolute
We must reconstitute
A new social contract.
Amen!
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/julius_caesar/full.html
- 1913 reads