REMEMBERING BABEL
O when I think of the world before Babel
My eyes drips with rivers of tears...
That world was free from insanity,
Poverty and discriminations.
It was pure, even more purer than the springs -
Which revive the dying plants.
It was undefiled like the seventh heaven.
That world was a snow;
Serene, with no room for Lucifer's chicanery.
It was peaceful like mares.
It was as beautiful as the colours of the rainbow
Which kisses the smiling sky in seasons.
That world was devoid of pain and sorrow,
With bonds among friends growing stronger every passing day.
It was the period of bellies going to beds in good moods,
Without swords
Nor spears
Nor guns
Nor bombs reducing its population.
That world was marriage made in heaven,
With love guiding every single deed.
That world had no Hitler
Nor religion
Nor philosophies.
It was flawless,
Infallible,
And spotless.
It was a world devoid of sounds of cries beneath dark huts.
It was a world where mothers never buried their offspring.
Comrades, such a time, the earth still yearns for it.
Then came Babel,
Such a significant structure it was;
Borne out of humans' talents and philosophies.
It was indeed a beautiful curse.
Then suddenly things fell out of shape.
Unified tongues suddenly generated diverse languages.
Bonds among brothers loosened.
Love turned cold.
Eyes no longer saw the back.
Discriminations became the order of the day.
Diverse skins no longer mingled.
Love died!
Then science bred Hitlers,
Hitlers in return invented reasons to kill.
Peace disappeared.
So we became ingordigious monsters,
with no distinctions between us and animals.
So the world became too small for us,
With territorial wars claiming souls like rabid infernos.
But if you happen to see those who built Babel,
Tell them that they have done us more evil than good.
Tell them that the burden they placed
On us is beyond our weight.
Please tell them, yes,
When you come across them,
That they should turn back the hands of time.
M. C. Escher
O when I think of the world before Babel
My eyes drips with rivers of tears...
That world was free from insanity,
Poverty and discriminations.
It was pure, even more purer than the springs -
Which revive the dying plants.
It was undefiled like the seventh heaven.
That world was a snow;
Serene, with no room for Lucifer's chicanery.
It was peaceful like mares.
It was as beautiful as the colours of the rainbow
Which kisses the smiling sky in seasons.
That world was devoid of pain and sorrow,
With bonds among friends growing stronger every passing day.
It was the period of bellies going to beds in good moods,
Without swords
Nor spears
Nor guns
Nor bombs reducing its population.
That world was marriage made in heaven,
With love guiding every single deed.
That world had no Hitler
Nor religion
Nor philosophies.
It was flawless,
Infallible,
And spotless.
It was a world devoid of sounds of cries beneath dark huts.
It was a world where mothers never buried their offspring.
Comrades, such a time, the earth still yearns for it.
Then came Babel,
Such a significant structure it was;
Borne out of humans' talents and philosophies.
It was indeed a beautiful curse.
Then suddenly things fell out of shape.
Unified tongues suddenly generated diverse languages.
Bonds among brothers loosened.
Love turned cold.
Eyes no longer saw the back.
Discriminations became the order of the day.
Diverse skins no longer mingled.
Love died!
Then science bred Hitlers,
Hitlers in return invented reasons to kill.
Peace disappeared.
So we became ingordigious monsters,
with no distinctions between us and animals.
So the world became too small for us,
With territorial wars claiming souls like rabid infernos.
But if you happen to see those who built Babel,
Tell them that they have done us more evil than good.
Tell them that the burden they placed
On us is beyond our weight.
Please tell them, yes,
When you come across them,
That they should turn back the hands of time.
M. C. Escher
After the Great Flood, mankind migrated to the land of Shinar (Mesopotamia) and decided to settle there and to build a city and tower reaching to Heaven to mark their exalted place in the world. Before it could be completed, God realized that men had it in their grasp to accomplish anything, so he confounded their speech into various languages and scattered them all over the planet. The Hebrew verb "to jumble" was "balal," and the Akkadian phrase "bab-ilu meant Gate of God; the English word "babble" is derived from the Tower of Babel. According to1st-century historian Josephus, the construction was ordered by Nimrod (the great-grandson of Noah via Ham and Cush), the founder of Assyria and the first ruler of all men. Josephus described Nimrod as a tyrant who opposed God and was determined to build a tower high enough to prevent a second destruction of humanity by another great flood. Various legends pit him against Abraham as avatars for polytheism vs. montotheism. Nimrod the builder was also associated with the Order of Freemasonry, and Babel was probably the city Babylon.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Theodore Hiebert interprets Babel as the cradle of civilization and the Tower story as a mythical explanation for cultural differences rather than as divine punishment of pride. It is this interpretation that colors the Abel Iseyen Ancietman account; the tyrant Nimrod is irrelevant in this view: "Then science bred Hitlers, /
Hitlers in return invented reasons to kill."