A COMMENTARY ON POLITICS/AMERICA IN METAPHOR (by lucija jovanovic)
by lucija jovanovic (reprinted with permission)
BARREN FIELD, Van Gogh...borrowed from my brother's poem
Ring around the rosey,
A pocketful of posies.
ashes, ashes.
We all fall down.
Over the years, we have sung the words to a children's song without ever knowing what it meant. Many people are very surprised when they find out how dark and depressing, "Ring Around the
Rosie," actually is. These people cannot believe that the song is actually about the Bubonic Plague.
If the song is broken down into comments and lines, it is easier to see how dark and depressing the song actually is.
Ring Around the Rosie
When a person contracted the Bubonic Plague, they would gain rose-colored, puss-filled sores on their body called rosies. As the infection spread, rings would wind around the rosies. "Ring around the rosie," refers to these rings.
Pocket Full of Posies
During the time of the Bubonic Plague, people realized that it was harmful to go around the body of someone who had died from the plague. The common practice in some areas of Europe was to fill the shirt or jacket pocket of the deceased with posies so that others would know to leave the body alone.
"Pocket full of posies," was what would soon happen after the person started getting the rings around the rosie. Once the rings started to form, the undertaker would be called to prepare the posies.
Ashes Ashes
Once the body of the person who had died from the plague had been taken away, it would be burned. This is essentially when cremation started as a form of burial.
There was a lot of worry that extra handling of the body could cause people to get sick. There was also worry by some that the body would come back in the form of a vampire or some other type of the walking dead. Burning the body was the only true option they had.
We All Fall Down
It was believed by many that eventually that Bubonic Plague would wipe out all of civilization. It is understandable why they had this belief because of the number of people that were dying everyday from the Plague.
The Black Death killed off an estimated 20-35% of the population of Eurasia during its historic run. It was nearly impossible for anyone to not know at least one person who died from the Plague at the time.
There are many versions of this song, the above is the version children sing in the U.S.
They hold hands & form a secure linked circle.
Our circle is comprised of Republicans, corporations, pharmaceutical & insurance companies, oil magnates, the 1% who hold the wealth of the bottom combined, other countries with investments from the above, etc., (actually, they're all the same as the links are interwoven), & all are infested with a Plague.
Bubonic plague is usually contracted through the bite of infected animals, such as fleas, rodents, and lice.
Because the plague killed so many of the poor population, wealthy land owners were forced to pay the remaining workers what they asked, in terms of wages. < To keep the luxury living of the wealthy, perhaps they ought to give this a think.
This song came to me for no apparent reason at all, but I found it the perfect metaphor, some of you will, too.