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Progress?

It is stupid to protest against death as such, but you can and must protest against violent death. It is bad when people died before their time from disease or poverty but it is worse when a man is killed by another man - Testimony, Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich, 1979.

Progress?

I.

7p.m., Central Park
- dark clouds drift in, tinted with
the red hue of blood,
filling up the New York City
skyline... even the sun goes into
hiding early now.

What a difference ten days can make!

II.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy -Matthew 5:4 (Brahms' German Requiem, Movement I)

7.15p.m. - notes from Brahms'
Requiem slowly fill the air
- Masur's gesture for all those
hurting today. No applauses
today at the end, they request.

Solace - finally solace?

III.

And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. - John 16:22 (Brahms' German Requiem, Movement V)

8.00p.m. - Its darker now, and
the moon peeks in - as if afraid
and in hiding too. I look up and
see the clouds have drifted away.

Maybe tonight we'll sleep
easy again?

IV.

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed... then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? - Corinthians 15:51,52,54,55 (Brahms' German Requiem, Movement VI)

9.00p.m. - Bush calls for understanding.
Understanding the need for vengeance
and war? I wonder where the dark
clouds went tonight - to tear the sky
asunder under which mother's son.

To furrow the brow of which
tired souls?

V.

10.00p.m.- Tired, I turn around,
restless in bed - maybe more music will
soothe my soul? I choose Shostakovich
Symphony No. 14 for now - after all
in his preface, he claims,
"Life is truly beautiful".

But Death is the final revenge,
"the commander counting his spoils on the
battlefield"¹?

VI.

Midnight - No calm tonight,
just moments of temporary lightness,
no redemption from the darkness
tonight.

Another day passes on...
Maybe tomorrow the fog will lift
and the sun will shine clearly
again?

Sanjeev D. Naik
September, 20, 2001

¹: From the CD pamphlet for Symphony No. 14, Dmitri Shostakovich and Songs and Dances of Death, Modesto Mussorgsky; Performed by Gothenberg Symphony Orchestra led by Neeme Jarvi.