Poems by Brian Strader
Brian Strader is a Canadian national and visits our website on a regular basis. He wrote a series of poems -some of them related to Argentina-, which we now begin to publish.
1911 - Argentina the Land We Love
At the time of the first Argentine all-male vote in 1911, the Argentine army supervised the election, not the police. Like in today's Egypt, the army was seen to be more worthy of people's trust than the police which were corrupt. Thus, the reference in the poem to heeding "martial" law, in quotes because not in the literal sense of full Martial Law (governance by the army), but only in a supervisory function for this election.
The people
Resolved on farming wide.
The land sees naught
But teeming death,
The land seen far and wide.
The granted plots of land
So fair,
We wait the crop death's end.
No haste to call
Our lives forfeit,
Our land gives birth
To all.
The victories gained
Through sufferage given,
We heeded "martial" law.
Amended we our electoral law.
Shall we
No longer suffer?
Our land,
The teeming hordes
Of immigrant friends,
These teeming hordes
Call home.
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Après Moi
The title refers to a quote attributed to the King of France Louis XV: 'Après moi, le déluge.' ('After me, the deluge.') In modern context, it can equally refer to Argentina's Juan Perón or Egypt's Hosni Mubarak.
The people
Resolved on farming wide.
The land sees naught
But teeming death,
The land seen far and wide.
The granted plots of land
So fair,
We wait the crop death's end.
No haste to call
Our lives forfeit,
Our land gives birth
To all.
The victories gained
Through sufferage given,
We heeded "martial" law.
Amended we our electoral law.
Shall we
No longer suffer?
Our land,
The teeming hordes
Of immigrant friends,
These teeming hordes
Call home.
Brian Strader
Vancouver, Canada
e-Mail: straderb @ smartt.com