The Rape of the Sabine Women, 1581-82

Giovanni da Bologna [Jean de Boulogne] Flemish (1529-1608)

Marble Height: 13' 6"

Loggia della Signoria, Florence

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Giovanni's RAPE OF THE SABINE WOMEN AT WILDENSTEIN'S

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Showing the girl

On the shoulder of the warrior, calling

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Behind her in the young body's triumph

With its despairing arms aloft

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And the men violent,

being violent

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In a strange village. The dust

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Settles into village clarity

Among the villagers, a difficult

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Song

Full of treason.

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Sing?

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To one's fellows?

To old men? in the villages,

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The dwindling heritage

The heart will shrivel in

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Sometime -- But the statue!

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Spiriling its drama

In the stair well

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Of the gallery ... Useless!

Useless! Thick witted,

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Thick carpeted, exhilarated by the stylish

Or the opulent, the blind and deaf. There was a child

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The girl was:

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Seeking like a child the eyes

Of the animals

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To promise

Everything that matters, shelter

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From the winds

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The winds that lie

In the mind,

The ruinous winds

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'Powerless to affect

The intensity of what is' --

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'It has been good to us,'

However. The nights

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At sea, and what

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We sailed in, the large

Loose sphere of it

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Visible the force in it

Moving the little boat.

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Only that it changes! Perhaps one is himself

Beyond the heart, the center of the thing

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And cannot praise it

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As he would want us to, with the light in it, feeling the long helplessness

Of those who will remain in it

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And the losses. If this is treason

To the artists, make the most of it; one needs such faith,

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Such faith in it

In the whole thing, more than I,

Or they, have had in songs.

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George Oppen, American (1908-1984)

Collected Poems

New York, 1975, New Directions

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For more information on:

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Wildenstein Gallery:

http://www.wildenstein.com

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On the poet:

http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/oppen/oppen.htm

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You can also find me at:

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http://livinginthepostcard.blog.terra.com.br
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http://ameiavoz.blog.terra.com.br
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http://fotolog.com/binkawest

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