(AA) Canto 11: Appeasement
Fascist Knot
Surely the wings that hold,
Dark-clasp’d, the mystery of Fate
This moment will unfold
Harold Monro
Hitler receiv’d his conquering idol,
A dazzle of banners & manoeuvres!
Impresses his ‘hero’ with mock battle,
“How like the Spartans march these fine soldiers!”
“My friend please speak
Beneath the Glockenturm,”
The Mai-feld’s bound’ries creak e’en in a Donnersturm.
Wooed Mussolini’s mood unique
Thro’ supper conversation,
“The British Empire has grown weak,
Wrote off the Tscheschienne nation,
Together we shall climb the peak
Of our proper station,
Forcing the course of history’s censor,
Steal victory thro all the pomp of war.”
Two sister nations buck & rise
To ride the wylde warhorse;
First centralize, then march to prise
Thy neighbour’s realms by force,
Then sail in search of empire, letting conquest take best course.
Berlin
November
1937
Anschluss
What is it that stirs the heart & mind,
Quietly & insidiously biting deep
Until it is a part of self
Rennie McOwan
Stately & silent mile-high Alpine peaks,
Stand oer the Obersalzburg, far below
By Berchtesgaden’s fairytale antiques,
Goes Doctor Schuschnigg’s car, snicking thro’ snow ;
Now Berghof looms,
How the Doctor trembles,
When moody light illumes Hitler & his gen’rals.
As tyrants try their tyranny
& fly thro’ the high-stakes game;
Alone in Der Fuhrer’s study,
His land in the window frame,
“Austria must join Germany,
The same in all but name,
My destiny forg’d to reunite us,
Oppose us & spill the blood of brothers.”
The Heldenplatz sang joyously,
Their conquerer arose
In victory, “Thro’ you & me
The German Nation grows,
Thou hast a holy mission… guard the Reich from Eastern foes.”
Ostmark
March
1938
The Question of Versaille
Alone with God, where no wind blows,
And Death, his shadow – doom’d, he goes :
That God is there the shadows shows
Ebenezer Elliott
Churchill lurch’d from his back-bench wilderness,
Round thickset neck dangl’d the Dardanelles,
Projecting deep resonance to impress
On Parliament of the Fascist perils;
“I prophesise
This Berlin maniac
Has fool’d us to the wise, that wolf must soon attack!
Let us urge the world to rally
Against this cruel dictator,
How potent the deterency
If we should pool with Russia,
So let us rouse our old country,
Raise historic vigour,
Germany is re-arming at a pace,
We must build air fleets to stay in the race!”
The House laugh’d an indignant laugh,
Chamberlain sat him down,
A telegraph from the Berghof
Pluck’d from his stately gown,
“Mister Hitler is all for peace!” cheers drown the single frown.
London
March
1938
Referendum
What he does in necessary
Whatever he does in necessary
Whatever he does in successful
Rudolf Hess
Chewing on a käsekrainer sausage,
The young, pre-vegan Fuhrer once preferr’d –
As Germany seeks Austria’s spousage
Into the pot his hidden poison stirr’d;
Dissention quell’d
A conquest this can’t be
As referendum held bitter as chicory!
Propaganda unremitting,
Radiance in eager eyes,
For a leader them befitting,
Austrian in German guise,
With none of them admitting
Him just a knave of lies,
So easy is a sacred saviour seen,
“Yes” votes on ninety-nine percent convene.
In Burgenland, with gumptive gall,
“No” voted sixty-four,
Outside the hall a gallows pole,
With nooses hung three score,
Glares out a public warning full devotion to restore.
Eisenstadt
April 10th
1938
Death Dreams
Subservient to another, full of fears & care;
Responsible for manifold affairs of state,
How can officials know the joys of love
Kumarapulapratibodha
‘How beautiful are roses in the spring!’
Thought Chamberlain to raise his weary head,
That gruelling, solemn parley with the King
Had left him wasted, wanton for his bed;
As stars complete
Their glittering display
Inside Ten Downing Street, to dream the break of day…
..the Grinning ghosts of Guernica
Danc’d madly upon his grave,
Overhead each gruesome bomber
Belching death wave-after-wave,
Now marches jack-boot soldier
Good people to enslave;
A pig-tail girl nears with an outstretch’d plalm,
Mouse nibbling at her pretty little palm…
…jag-lightning wrenches night apart
Deep thunder in it’s train,
He, with a start, awoke, his heart-
Beat drumming to the rain,
As thro’ his cramping abdomen shoots dull & thumping pain.
London
May 1938
Nazi Party Rally
The German people slumber on
In dull, stupid sleep & encourage
The Fascist criminals
The White Rose
The second Max Stemmler stept from the train
Saw him thrust into echoistic sea,
Religious fervour proscribing his brain,
His heart leapt up to greet the pageantry;
Great church bells cheer,
“O Lord, ’tis glorious!
Der Fuhrer, he it here! He has come among us!”
Neath nympholepsic fawn fanfare
& eagle-mantl’d banner,
This dreamy, acolytic stare
Of uniform’d stormtrooper,
Paces fulgurant, flament, flair,
Figure-heads together;
Pass by Kongressbau: pulsing; hypnotic;
Enter Zepp’linfeld: writhing; erotic…
…Where oratory masterful
Draws the crowd to climax,
His beautiful, triumphant will
Spits venom at the Czechs,
“Justice for the Sudetenland!” Max faints, a heart’s reflex.
Nuremburg
June
1938
Hitler’s Will
He regards even his tantrums as a sign of strength
He would prefer us to be as water,
To see us stagnating as the bottom of the cup
Mourid Barghouti
Fresh from Rome, with Mussolini’s consent
To begin, ‘gainst Czechoslovakia
His tacit conquest of the continent,
Removing that thorn, that threat to the rear;
He’ll need reasons
To show aggressive hand…
“Blood of the Aryans floods the Sudetenland!”
Touring the regions of the Rhine,
Fawning entourage in tow,
In every heart his star did shine,
To Hades they would follow,
Strolling along the Seigfried line
Musing on Maginot –
Amidst sycophants one precocious youth,
Dares challenge his captain with starkling truth;
“We lack the men to firmly man
The whole of this West Wall!”
“Schiesser, we can, we’re stronger than
Both Albion & Gaul,
Their treaty is a sham they have no spine to fight at all.”
The Saar
August
1938
On the Brink
My tender friends are all put to flicht;
For policy is fled agane in France
My sister, Justice, almaist hath tint her sicht
Sir David Lyndsay
Upon the flesh of the Tschechien nation
The hungry wolf all set to snap its jaws,
With France a-dither with their obligation,
Britannia sends a leader from her shores;
H’d never been
Into the air before,
Tho’ lofty & serene, his thoughts are screaming war!
High oer the North Europa plain
That stretches to the Urals,
Ahead, like spreading clouds of rain,
Uprise Alpine sentinels,
To Munich drops that aeroplane,
Whose good folk flock the sills,
To witness the British Prime Minister
Avert something trickily sinister.
The roads were lined with cheering crowds
Of kids & mountain men,
Gloom-rolling clouds each peak enshrouds,
Chamberlain chews his pen –
Inside those misty mountains, somewhere, lies a lion’s den.
Bad Aibling
September 15th
1938
Peace In Our Time
If few their wants, their pleasures are but few :
For every want that stimulates the breast
Becomes a source of pleasure when redress’d
Oliver Goldsmith
Distant peals of thunderdrones draw closer,
About the Kehlsteinhaus tough Zephyrs swirl’d,
No wonder, here, delusions of grandeur,
An eagle’s nest perch’d high above the world;
Hitler commands
They’ll drive below the snow,
Wringing his clammy hands, singing, ‘Bring on the foe!’
His villa was the field agreed,
By the piny, mountain wood,
“Sudetenland must be full freed
From spillage of German blood,
It must be NOW! if I must lead
In full stride of manhood,
For never! never! never! shall I yield
Even if Earth becometh battlefield!”
“If you want war why let us come,
Our time wasted I see!”
Adolf struck dumb, a softer drum,
“Will the Allies agree
To the secession?” “Si!” such was that easy victory.
The Berghof
September 15th
1938
Mumble Words 