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Vivere in Pace (Live in Peace)

by Anne Ranasinghe

Anne Ranasinghe was born in Germany. When Adolf Hitler came into power in 1933, over six million jews were killed. Anne fled to England for safety. In England she got trained as a nursing sister and had direct experience of the horrors of war.

Later, when she resided in Sri Lanka she got married to a Sinhalese professor of the University of Colombo. Anne's poetry is full of compassion and affection not only to human beings but also to helpless animals.

Her poem 'Plead Mercy', is a plea or a strong request for kindness and sympathy to animals. Anne Ranasinghe's poem Vivere in pace is a comment on the review of an exhibition of Graphics from the German Democratic Republic, and was led in Colombo. The horrors of Atomic war were clearly reflected in the exhibits. The atomic bomb, dropped on Hiroshima in Japan (by the Americans in 1945), totally and brutally destroyed the entire population and the city itself resulting in horrible disaster and even experienced by future generations.

In Vivere in pace the first verse stresses the fact that Sri Lanka not being subjected to war; of course before the communal clashes took place, they have had only a visual image of the violence caused by war, seen on the cinema screen or paintings at exhibitions.

In this small island heaven, and
the nearest you have been to
violent death is on the cinema screen

The second verse creates the mental image of the dreadful effects of Atomic War. What one sees on the cinema screen, is single dimensional and fails to present how loved ones were killed, injured, burnt and destroyed.

the second dimension of love, may be
a third of pain,
a fourth of touch-blood
Is sticky and warm
burnt bodies disintegrate
and have you confronted a shadow
seared into a wall

It is said that in Hiroshima the people were seared into walls the result of the blast. This horror caused intense fear in the few people who survived and the horror can never be erased or taken off till their death.

it remains - a festering canker
till you die

The third verse points out or is rather a challenge. The work is aesthetically good. The reviewer's

intelligent statement that one was disturbed and horrified,
and cannot live with this kind of art
unless one happens to be a depressophile
(and coyly you ask 'Is there such a word?')
In the fourth verse the poet conveys a bit of advice
An artist can only express
Some of his experience
not yours
The artist may fail to express the emotion
that caused it to blossom

In the final stanza the poet points out how the reviewer is anxious to know:

And then you demand, when will the German stop saying me a culpa? (it is my fault)

The poet says they'll never do it because they are guilty of murdering millions of people

For under their meaculpa lie buried millions dead,

and would you - for the sake of your comfort

that we forget?

The poet, presumes that the reviewer is ignorant of the terrible disaster caused by the atomic bomb in seconds and the question the reviewer asks is counter productive. The Germans should take the blame and assure a repetition of the same drastic procedure, will not take place.

The sad tone of the poem invites the reader's attention to what the poet unfolds. The use of imagery is powerful. The image of the effects of war is created in a profound manner.

The second dimension of love, may be
a third of pain,
a fourth of touch-blood
Is sticky and warm
burnt bodies disintegrate
and have you confronted a shadow
seared into a wall
that was a man in its original stage?

The poet is of the opinion, that the Germans have to accept the blame for killing millions of innocent people. Some of the Germans feel that the world will never forgive them, or forget their sins of inhuman slaughter. There may be some, who would remain with their malignant qualities unmoved.

Anne Ranasinghe, has used simple but powerful diction to express her feelings and ideas. The second verse is longer than the rest as it is in the form of a summary unveiling the terrible disaster, the inhuman effects of war.

There's exquisite imagery and forcefulness in the wording.

The title, itself is suggestive of the extreme desire for peace and abhorrence of violence. The poet's expression is extremely touching revealing how the people in wartorn areas could neither forget nor erase from their memory, the horrors of war.

"It remains - a festering canker till you die"

The poem seems to be 'directly connected' with the poet's experience and impression of war and the final line in the final verse sums up the poet's views.

For under their meaculpa lie burried millions dead, and would you - for the sake of your comfort that we forget?

Mrs. C. Ekanayake, Retd. Specialist teacher Eng.Lit., St. Anne's College, Kurunegala.

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