The Destruction of the Indies

October 16, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which are celebrated on Oct. 14.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem for Indigenous Peoples’ Day based on passages from A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by Bartolomé de las Casas (written in 1542, published in 1552):

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE INDIES

From A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by Bartolomé de las Casas (written in 1542, published in 1552):

The settlers would erect long gibbets
To which they would bind thirteen of the Indians at one time,
In honor and reverence, they said,
Of Our Redeemer and the twelve Apostles,
And put firewood around it
And burn the Indians alive.

Another time, because the Indians
Did not give a settler a coffer filled with gold,
They killed countless souls,
And cut off the hands and noses of countless
Men and women, and others they threw
To the savage dogs,
Who tore them to pieces and ate them.

The cacique asked the holy father whether
Christians went to the sky. The priest replied
That they did, but only those who were good.
And the cacique then said that he
Did not desire to go to the sky,
But rather down to hell
So that he would not be where they were
And would not see such cruel people.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thedes.html. For more poems for indigenous peoples’ day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Columbus Day and Indigenous People’s Day

10/14: Could I Have Seen the Consequence

10/15: The Enslavement of the Caribbeans: Columbus’ Second Voyage

10/16: The Destruction of the Indies

The Enslavement of the Carribeans: Columbus' Second Voyage

October 15, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which are celebrated on Oct. 14.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem for Indigenous Peoples’ Day about bringing Indian slaves back to Spain, based on passages from a letter by Michele da Cuneo, who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage and wrote the letter after his return to Italy in 1495: 

THE ENSLAVEMENT OF THE CARIBBEANS: COLUMBUS’ SECOND VOYAGE

From a letter by Michele da Cuneo, who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage and wrote the letter after his return to Italy in 1495:

When our caravels were ready to depart,

We gathered 1,600 Indians, male and female,

And on the 17^th of February 1495

Loaded aboard 650 of the best, both men and women.

The rest were offered to whoever wanted them.

And so it was.

When everyone was supplied with slaves,

About 400 were freed to go where they wished,

Among whom were females with nursing infants,

Whom they flung to the ground as they fled,

Fleeing like desperate persons

Seven or eight days from our settlement,

Beyond mountains and great rivers,

So that it would be nearly impossible

Ever to take them again.

As pleased God we had such favorable winds

That we reached the island of Madeira in 23 days.

But by that time some 200 of the Indians had died,

And we cast them into the sea.

Soon after this we reached Cadiz,

Where we unloaded the slaves,

Half of whom were sick.

They are not made for work,

Fear greatly the cold,

And do not live long.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/theens.html. For more poems for indigenous peoples’ day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Columbus Day and Indigenous People’s Day

10/14: Could I Have Seen the Consequence

10/15: The Enslavement of the Caribbeans: Columbus’ Second Voyage

Could I Have Seen the Consequence

October 14, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which are celebrated on Oct. 14.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A Columbus Day poem in which Columbus reflects upon the terrible consequences for indigenous people of his discoveries:

Could I have seen the consequence

Of my bold exploration,

Looking back before I left

Upon my life's creation --

Millions genocidally

Butchered, starved, enslaved,

Under laws and governments

Savage, cruel, depraved --

Despite all this, I would have gone,

And new lands found, and new worlds known,

Yet drawn by what I craved.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/could2.html. For more Columbus Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/columbusdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Columbus Day and Indigenous People’s Day

10/14: Could I Have Seen the Consequence

The Roots of Hatred

October 13, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is ethical behavior in honor of Yom Kippur, which begins at sunset on Oct. 8 and ends at nightfall on Oct. 9.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A philosophical poem about the need to love oneself whole – both the good and the evil:

The roots of hatred run so deep

We drink their poison in our sleep.

Deep within or deep below,

The roots run deeper than we know.

Day and night, and night and day

We while the precious time away

Hating, writhing, seething, ranting,

All the while new hate seeds planting.

In the mind and in the heart,

In the whole and in each part,

The anger clenches flesh and soul,

Taking a titanic toll.

O love, the wind that winnows well

The hate that holds the heart in hell,

Come and kiss the urge to kill,

And storms abate, and tempests still.

Love comes alone to those who call,

And love themselves along with all,

Love the roots and love the tree,

And know that you are part of me;

And know that I am part of you,

And you become the things I do,

And what I hate is what I am,

Both hungry wolf and slaughtered lamb.

So do not hate the hate within,

But love the love, and love the sin,

Love the beast and love the prey,

For both one word of wonder say.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/theroo.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Ethical Behavior

10/7: You Cannot Think the Book of Life Will Close

10/8: You Find but Little Solace in Success

10/9: You Wish to Live a Long and Happy Life

10/10: If Life Could Be a Court and We Be Tried

10/11: Justin Walks Along His Own Thin Line

10/12: Adrian Knows Well the Unsaid Rules

10/13: The Roots of Hatred

Adrian Knows Well the Unsaid Rules

October 12, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is ethical behavior in honor of Yom Kippur, which begins at sunset on Oct. 8 and ends at nightfall on Oct. 9.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A philosophical name poem about choosing to shape one’s behavior according to ethical rules:

Adrian knows well the unsaid rules

Demanding that one be what one is not.

Restraining the fierce appetites within,

Interning the insurgents bent on sin,

As he matures, he learns to love his lot,

No longer heeding the laments of fools.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/adrian.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Ethical Behavior

10/7: You Cannot Think the Book of Life Will Close

10/8: You Find but Little Solace in Success

10/9: You Wish to Live a Long and Happy Life

10/10: If Life Could Be a Court and We Be Tried

10/11: Justin Walks Along His Own Thin Line

10/12: Adrian Knows Well the Unsaid Rules

Justin Walks Along His Own Thin Line

October 11, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is ethical behavior in honor of Yom Kippur, which begins at sunset on Oct. 8 and ends at nightfall on Oct. 9.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A philosophical name poem about how one might hide one’s sinful thoughts and feelings from oneself:

Justin walks along his own thin line.

Unselfishly he weighs each consequence.

Subtly bending rays that might reveal

Thoughts he could not knowingly conceal,

Instinctively he guards his innocence,

Not feeling what he fears is not benign.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/justin.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Ethical Behavior

10/7: You Cannot Think the Book of Life Will Close

10/8: You Find but Little Solace in Success

10/9: You Wish to Live a Long and Happy Life

10/10: If Life Could Be a Court and We Be Tried

10/11: Justin Walks Along His Own Thin Line

If Life Could Be a Court and We Be Tried

October 10, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is ethical behavior in honor of Yom Kippur, which begins at sunset on Oct. 8 and ends at nightfall on Oct. 9.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A philosophical poem about guilt and the need to be loved:

If life could be a court and we be tried,

Our guilt could be determined with precision.

Judges would due punishment provide

And close our cases with some just decision.

But rarely is our guilt so well defined.

Underground it rages unrestrained:

Above, defenses carefully aligned;

Below, no faintest trace of them retained.

For those who have such tragedies to bear

And cannot ever know their share of blame,

There is no court but their own hearts, and there

They are condemned to self-inflicted shame.

Such tender souls are fittest to be moved

By knowing that like all souls they are loved.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/iflife.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Ethical Behavior

10/7: You Cannot Think the Book of Life Will Close

10/8: You Find but Little Solace in Success

10/9: You Wish to Live a Long and Happy Life

10/10: If Life Could Be a Court and We Be Tried