Deprivation

[Hawkman]

History has deprived me
Of my native gods, it seems.
The Romans, then the Saxons,
(With the Vikings, two or three)
As marauding waves invading
Have decreed that this must be.
My countrymen were never
Really given any choice,
And consequently local gods,
Divested of their voice.


So now I know of Jupiter
And Mars and Saturn too,
Of Wotan and of Freya
And Loki, through and through;
The Hindus and the Christians,
The Muslims and the Jews,
All know more about their Gods
Than I will ever do.

So spare a tear for deities
Forgotten and abused,
Displaced by cruel invaders,
Their sacred groves unused.
Druidic priests all slaughtered
By Caesar’s harsh command,
Human sacrifice, perchance,
No longer in demand.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I assume there's dark irony intended in that final couplet. Deftly presented all the way through.

[Hawkman]

Hi, Prince

The subject, although treated lightly and engineered to lead up to the punch-line of a convoluted joke, does have a serious core. As far as I’m aware, the only evidence that Druids practiced human sacrifice is in the writings of Julius Caesar and subsequent Roman historians. But as it was the Romans who exterminated the Druids, who were considered to be fermenting rebellion against Rome in Britain, one can not rule out the possibility that their accounts of Druidic practices were not just black propaganda.

In view of Roman excess in the Arena of the Games, and that gladiatorial contests to the death were originally a component of Roman burial/memorial rituals, one can not but feel that their attitude towards Druids (even if they did practice human sacrifice) was a little hypocritical.

Of course, there are the bog bodies, but can we be certain whether these were religious sacrifices or executions of criminals?

As there appears to be no evidence of a written history inscribed by the indigenous population of the British Isles prior to the Roman invasion, practically all knowledge of pre Roman society here, is speculative. One can’t help wondering what the world would have been like without Rome.

Live and be well,

H

[AuntShecky]

I'm by no means a "Trekkie" but I seem to recall back in the original first-run Star Trek series there was an episode in which the crew of The Enterprise actually encountered the old forgotten Greek Gods. Now that you've reminded me of it, I'll try to look it up and see if it's available for
free viewing on the web.

And I found it! It's called "Who Mourns for Adonais?" and it's from Season 2, Episode 2
http://www.tv.com/video/dSKsiTUZ_2JQ4Uj7y1S59Kvn6SHySp5l/who-mourns-for-adonais?o=cbs&tag=container;episode_guide_list

By the bye, "Trekkie" is a name of a young lady who is a character in Saul Bellow's More Die of Heartbreak. What is funny about it, in the light of Mr. Bellow's sly humor, is that the novel never explains how she came to acquire that name.

This latest work of yours is very nice. Your verse improves with every new posting.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Hi, Prince

The subject, although treated lightly and engineered to lead up to the punch-line of a convoluted joke, does have a serious core. As far as I’m aware, the only evidence that Druids practiced human sacrifice is in the writings of Julius Caesar and subsequent Roman historians. But as it was the Romans who exterminated the Druids, who were considered to be fermenting rebellion against Rome in Britain, one can not rule out the possibility that their accounts of Druidic practices were not just black propaganda.

In view of Roman excess in the Arena of the Games, and that gladiatorial contests to the death were originally a component of Roman burial/memorial rituals, one can not but feel that their attitude towards Druids (even if they did practice human sacrifice) was a little hypocritical.

Of course, there are the bog bodies, but can we be certain whether these were religious sacrifices or executions of criminals?

As there appears to be no evidence of a written history inscribed by the indigenous population of the British Isles prior to the Roman invasion, practically all knowledge of pre Roman society here, is speculative. One can’t help wondering what the world would have been like without Rome.

Live and be well,

H

Here's to the Druids, and to the Cult of Gaia, to Hindu-Aryanism, and to whoever it was who first looked upwards and thought or said Hey! Let's suppose...

One (or at least I) can't help wondering what the world would have been like without him/or anyone like him/her...

[Hawkman]

Hi Auntie, and yes I remember the Star Trek episode and thanks for digging up the link. I would enjoy watching it again. I am not familiar with Saul Bellow’s work and will try and find it in the local library.

Since reading both your and BV’s recent critique I have been trying to relearn the classical metrical forms, which I have paid little attention to since leaving school. I have also become much more critical of my own work. Consequently I feel you are being overly generous about this one, as the first six lines are a bit clumsy and don’t match the meter of the subsequent stanzas. I was in too much of a hurry to put it up and I feel that I could tidy it up with a little more effort. But thank you for your encouragement.

My Prince, Thanks for the thought. I have never had a problem with spirituality and feeling one with the universe (assuming there is only one). What worries me is being told what to do or believe by a man/woman who claims to be speaking for God. In this increasingly Westernised, secular society, would you want to buy a used car from someone who claimed that God had told him to sell it to you?

Yet for the most part we are happy to buy what our priests/ministers/pastors are selling. In fact we are now in an age where many seem to be happy to buy what secular gurus are selling, regardless of common sense.

Having said all that one can’t help considering that a religion like Judaism, which has survived invasion, war, persecution et al, for 5,000 years or more, must have some fundamental truth going for it.

Live and be well.

H

[PrinceMyshkin]

My Prince, Thanks for the thought. I have never had a problem with spirituality and feeling one with the universe (assuming there is only one). What worries me is being told what to do or believe by a man/woman who claims to be speaking for God. In this increasingly Westernised, secular society, would you want to buy a used car from someone who claimed that God had told him to sell it to you?

Yet for the most part we are happy to buy what our priests/ministers/pastors are selling. In fact we are now in an age where many seem to be happy to buy what secular gurus are selling, regardless of common sense.
H

More often than not, to me the objection is to the salesman/woman as much as to the product they're offering for sale, custom-tailored to fit the times, the institution on whose behalf they're pitching or their own skewed perceptions.

Should not Christianity, indeed, be called St, Paulity?

[Hawkman]

perhaps...