RICHARD BERENGARTEN

It is the death of children most offends
nature and justice. No use asking why.
What justice is, nobody comprehends.

What punishment can ever make amends?
There’s no pretext, excuse or alibi.
It is the death of children most offends.

Whoever offers arguments pretends
to read fate’s lines. Although we must swear by
what justice is, nobody comprehends

how destiny or chance weaves. Who defends
their motives with fair reasons tells a lie.
It is the death of children most offends.

Death can’t deserve to reap such dividends
from these, who scarcely lived, their parents cry.
What justice is, nobody comprehends.

Bring comfort then, and courage. Strangers, friends,
are we not all parents when children die?
What justice is, nobody comprehends.
It is the death of children most offends.

FOR THE CHILDREN

I wrote this poem thirty-five years ago (in January 1988) when I lived in former Yugoslavia.
At this current time of horrific war and suffering, I offer it here again. Especially in the context of Israel and Gaza / Gaza and Israel.

Here the English is matched by Silvia Pio’s Italian translation. You can also hear a voice- recording of the English version here. In the summer of 2024, as part of a new multilingual project, the poem will be published by Poetry Archive in multiple languages, with voice-recordings by the translators, including Silvia’s Italian version.

I mean this poem for all the children. And all the parents. Not of any one group or ethnicity religion or nation. But for all children and all parents. Everywhere.

RB, Cambridge, January 2024