To listen to an audio recital of the poem, click here
The Degradation
(for Alfred
Dreyfus)
Friday
January 4th should have seen
the
public degradation of Alfred Dreyfus
but
the courts postponed it by a day
when
they realised how much more amusing it would be
if
it took place on the Sabbath
Framed
and condemned as a Prussian spy
the
former Captain was to be deported to Devil’s Island
but
only after he had undergone the public humiliation
of
an “execution procession”
Inmate
number 164 was woken at 7.30am
his
epaulettes his brass his buttons his gold officer’s braid
were
loosened so that they would tear more easily
his
sword was scored to be sure that it would be break
Then
he was searched handcuffed
delivered
to the Republican Guard
Mounted
troops escorted a black wagon
drawn
by four horses
to
the Ecole Militaire
where
an iron gate was kept closed
to
prevent the vast crowd spilling onto the Cour Morland
Every
regiment of the Paris garrison
had
sent two detachments to the ceremony
one
of soldiers in arms the other of young recruits
Stiff
and stoical
maintaining
the steel bearing of a soldier
Dreyfus
listened to the reading of the act of judgement
General
Darras then stood up on his stirrups
raised
his sword and declared
“Alfred
Dreyfus you are not worthy of bearing arms
In
the name of the French people we degrade you”
In
riposte Dreyfus shouted back
“Soldiers
they are degrading an innocent man
Long
live France! Long live the Army!”
To
which the crowd beyond the gates retorted
with
cries of “Death!”
A
Sergeant-Major slashed the gold braids
from
his cap and uniform
stripped
the regimental numbers from his collar
ripped
off the brass buttons
then
knelt to tear from Dreyfus’ left leg
the
red stripes that denoted him a soldier
Finally
he broke the prisoner’s sword over his knee
pulled
off his scabbard and belt
and
threw them to the ground
Once
more Dreyfus protested his innocence
The
year in question was 1895
Because
it was the Sabbath
Dreyfus’
family were unable
to
attend the ceremony
Among
those Jews who did attend were
famously
the
journalist Theodor Herzl and
less
famously though much more famous
the
actress Sarah Bernhardt
"The Degradation" is published in "Welcome To My World, Selected Poems 1973-2013", The Argaman Press. Click here to purchase the book.
You can find David Prashker at:
Copyright © 2014 David Prashker
All rights reserved
The Argaman Press
No comments:
Post a Comment