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Poetry Showcase [Historical] Moderators for this section: Weaver, ochsterboxter, CadenzRime, Lingua Pura, ososment, carolynrn, Inker

The Raft

Outline: The lengths that some people will go to to survive sometimes beggars belief.
Review: Any/all comments welcome
The Raft

Adrift upon the endless sea
floating driven on by tide
all aboard nowhere to hide
from storm and wave and wind.

For weeks on end the crew were One
battling on against the odds
then one man died
and all eyes
spied . . .
a way to stay alive!

Hacked to bits and eaten raw
they all saw . . .
what was coming next!

Such was the fate
of the cannibal crew
on The Raft of the Medusa.





The Raft of the Medusa by Theodore Gericault

Click here for a breakdown of the historical French scandal.
BrianRobertNeal
[Sat May 10, 2008 2:54 pm] Watto Ron
A novel and unsusual read. Footnote I wonder at what stage in our evolution the eating of one's own specie became anathema?

Brian
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Shelley
[Sat May 10, 2008 3:51 pm]
OOh! Interesting read, Ron.
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Ron
[Sat May 10, 2008 3:58 pm]
When? Guess it could have started being anathema when the 'rules for society' were first laid down 3,500 yrs ago - Old Testament, Aristotle and Plato, etc . . . but I believe it has been taboo for far longer than that - neolithic burial mounds in England from circa 5,000 yrs ago prove that point . . . and probably as far back as Adam.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers
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". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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Ron
[Sat May 10, 2008 4:07 pm]
Cheers Shelley - a gruesome true tale Yikes Shocked Rolling Eyes Bon appetite! Laughing

Cheers
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". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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Shelley
[Sat May 10, 2008 4:16 pm]
Yes, it must be a terrible thing to be hungry, really hungry and have nothing to eat. The saddest photo I ever saw was in the Telegraph a couple of years ago. A toddler, somewhere in Africa, was holding a dead mouse. She was starving and that was all she had to eat. I cried and cried. We don't know what we'd do to survive.
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Ron
[Sat May 10, 2008 4:28 pm]
Eating the dead is understandable in certain conditions - I'm talking now of the Argentinian passenger jet that crashed in the high Andes in the 70s and, having heard on their failing radio that the search for them had been called off and there was no hope of rescue, they ate the bodies of the original crash victims to stay alive. They first cut off the heads and buried them with respect. That served two purposes: 1 - a modicum of dignity and 2 - no one knew who they were eating. Gruesome and desperate, hey.

On the Raft of the Medusa they resorted to murder - different scenario and totally abhorrent.

In Changi Prison in Singapore during WWII, British POWs survived by eating rats and cockroaches. Crying or Very sad
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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Shelley
[Sat May 10, 2008 4:34 pm]
Yes, we don't know what we'd do in that position.
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Philip Graham King
[Fri May 16, 2008 12:07 pm]
Hia Ron

What a terrible situation in which to find oneself.
There but for the grace of God go I and all that.

A good original read.

PGK.
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'Do as thou wilt, shall be the whole of the law'

Aleister Crowley (1875 - 1947)
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Ron
[Fri May 16, 2008 4:31 pm]
Yeah, Phil, it must have been a nightmare time for all onboard, hey.

Thanks for dropping by again. Wink

Cheers
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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arthurian
[Fri Jun 13, 2008 1:03 pm]
I'm trying to think what other poem was inspired by this piece? And also there is a modern equivelency in people trying to sail to europe from north africa illegally in ramshackle boats and rafts.
Could be worth a look at referencing this Ron
Enjoyed
G
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Ron
[Fri Jun 13, 2008 1:10 pm]
Hi G, nice to see you again, boss, Cool

Yeah, never thought about 'the boat people' but, yeah, that's sad and tragic too.

Don't know the poem you're thinking of but, yeah, would be interesting to find out.

Cheers
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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Ron
[Fri Jun 13, 2008 1:14 pm]
When you say '...referencing this' I took it to mean 'find out what the other poem is' - or are you talking about mine?
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". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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Ron
[Fri Jun 13, 2008 1:29 pm]
Just found this under the link I posted with the poem Laughing it's a lyric by The Pogues - that the one?
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". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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arthurian
[Mon Jun 16, 2008 7:27 pm]
Hi Ron - this is bugging me now lol - I WILL find it!
Thinking it was Auden - but not his famous one 'musee...'
G
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