Schadenfreud
Jun 03 2011 Filed in: Jims Poems
Schadenfreud
Where does it come from,
Our willingness to tolerate
The suffering of others?
Whence comes the pleasure
Of our cruelties.
Whence comes the indifference of
The multitudes.
Does the sufferer own for us
Some part of ourselves
We’d rather not think about?
Does putting the pain of others
Out of sight and mind
Somehow spare us
An unwelcome fate?
The Iroquois would torture
Their victims with fire,
Prolonging agony and pain,
Falling easily to sleep
To the sound of cries and screams,
And so we take picnics to hangings
We watch victims at the stake.
As if it will make us live longer.
And not give us very bad dreams.
Where does it come from,
Our willingness to tolerate
The suffering of others?
Whence comes the pleasure
Of our cruelties.
Whence comes the indifference of
The multitudes.
Does the sufferer own for us
Some part of ourselves
We’d rather not think about?
Does putting the pain of others
Out of sight and mind
Somehow spare us
An unwelcome fate?
The Iroquois would torture
Their victims with fire,
Prolonging agony and pain,
Falling easily to sleep
To the sound of cries and screams,
And so we take picnics to hangings
We watch victims at the stake.
As if it will make us live longer.
And not give us very bad dreams.