Lasso: “Madonna mia, pietà”

“Madonna mia, pietà”, composed by Orlando di Lasso…

Madonna mia, pietà chiam’ et aita,
ch’io moro e stento a torto, e pur volete.
Io grido e nol sentete:
“Acqua madonn’ al foco,
ch’io mi sento morire, a poco a poco”.

Vostra altiera beltà sola infinita
è causa ch’io me abbruscia, e ‘l consentete.
Io grido e nol sentete:
“Acqua madonn’ al foco,
ch’io mi sento morire, a poco a poco”.

Hormai le scema l’affanata vita.
Nol credi e con vostri occhi lo vedete.
Io grido e nol sentete:
“Acqua madonn’ al foco,
ch’io mi sento morire, a poco a poco”.

Di chiedervi mercè son quasi roco,
sol della pena mia prendete gioco.
Pur grido in ogni loco:
“Acqua madonn’ al foco,
ch’io mi sento morire, a poco a poco”.

God bless you for sharing culture!

HRW reports on refugees in Yemen and USA

Human Rights Watch publicou recentemente dous informes sobre o trato, bastante pouco humanitario, que reciben os refuxiados no Iemen e nos Estados Unidos. Copio extractos das respectivas introduccións…

“Hostile Shores: Abuse and Refoulement of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Yemen” (20 – XII – 2009)

For several years, tens of thousands of asylum seekers and refugees fleeing to Yemen from the volatile Horn of Africa region have endured terrible human rights abuses that have gone largely ignored by the outside world. Many have suffered violence or lost their lives while attempting the perilous sea crossing from the Horn. And the reception that awaits those who survive the journey depends not on why they have come but on where they come from.

Since the beginning of 2008, more than 100,000 people have set off to Yemen in boats from Djibouti or the Somali port city of Bosasso. More than 99 percent of them are Somalis and Ethiopians, and many are fleeing war or persecution at home. Some have fled seeking protection as refugees, some are looking for work and hope to pass through Yemen to Saudi Arabia and other wealthy countries, and some have left for a combination of reasons.

Yemen is the only country on the Arabian Peninsula to ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention, but it has interpreted the term “refugee” in a way that strips the convention of its core principles. The government of Yemen has displayed an extraordinary generosity towards Somalis, granting all of them prima facierefugee status because of the conflict raging in their country. But for Ethiopians the opposite is true. Whether they are economic migrants or asylum seekers in need of protection, the policy of the central government is to track them down, arrest them, and deport them.

The authorities do not recognize Ethiopians as legitimate asylum seekers, a discriminatory policy that violates international law. Even the few who make it to the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) without being arrested by the security forces and who then secure UNHCR recognition as refugees, do not receive official status from the Yemeni authorities. This leaves them vulnerable to serious continuing abuse. [...]

“Jailing Refugees: Arbitrary Detention of Refugees in the US Who Fail to Adjust to Permanent Resident Status” (29 – XII – 2009)

Each year, the US government sends officials to refugee camps overseas to interview thousands of people displaced by persecution and conflict, classifies a select number as refugees in need of resettlement, and brings those refugees to live in the United States. After one year in the United States, every resettled refugee is required to apply for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status, more familiarly known as a “green card.” However, refugees’ limited English, ignorance about the requirement, confusion over the legal process, and lack of resources, as well as the government’s failure to notify them of the requirement, often prevents them from timely filing to adjust their legal status. In some parts of the country, the consequence of not applying can be lengthy, indefinite and arbitrary detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). [...]

Rosalía de Castro: Nihil sub sole novum

O primeiro capítulo dun dos libros sapienciais da Biblia, coñecido como Qohelet ou Ecclesiastes, di cousas como estas (versión da Nova Vulgata, orixinal en hebreo):

[...] Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas [...] nihil sub sole novum. Si de quadam re dicitur: “Ecce hoc novum est”, iam enim praecessit in saeculis, quae fuerunt ante nos. Non est priorum memoria, sed nec eorum quidem, qui postea futuri sunt, erit recordatio apud eos, qui futuri sunt in novissimo. [...]

A reflexión non debía de ser tampouco nova, se nos fiamos do poeta e traductor Ramón Buenaventura, quen cita a Khakheperresenb, un escriba exipcio de hai catro mil anos:

“Oxalá dispuxese de frases non coñecidas, de expresións estrañas, nalgunha nova linguaxe nunca antes empregada, libre de repeticións, de palabras rancias xa desgastadas polos antepasados”

Se non è vero, è ben trovato. Hoxe traio un pensamento da nosa poeta Rosalía de Castro (1837 – 1885). Modernicei un chisquiño a ortografía:

Ben sei que non hai nada
novo embaixo do ceo,
que antes outros pensaron
as cousas que ora eu penso.

E ben, ¿para que escribo?
E ben, porque así semos,
relox que repetimos
eternamente o mesmo.