To Sir with .... Love ?

To Sir With Love   (and the human rights)

     Our vessel sailed from Perth Amboy.*                  * New Jersey,
           The man was nicknamed “Playboy”,

           a former cop, and now sailor,
           who back home lived in a trailer....

           Ship's destination was Kuwait,
           and my surprise was great,

           when I saw this cruel man cry,
           saying that he is going to die,

           because he could not stand,
                                   [the life at sea 
           and would prefer in prison be.

He confessed to me that in Miaoulis Coast,*                        *Piraeus
he was deceived by a mediator 
                                 [nicknamed the Ghost,
who told him a bunch of fairy tales,
hiding all the sea's painful travails...

I replied that his soul is alive,
and here such souls,
                      [do not survive….
Mine died many years ago
and my heart is full of woe..
It was killed,
             [by the senior students,
(we lived nightmarish moments)
in schools.... where brutal hazing*                                 *physical or psychological abuse.
                                  [of young men, 
can not only kill a soul.......... but ten.

Teachers were pretending,
                      [that they were not seeing,
and were not interfering,
                  [as would any human being,
watching that human rights were violated,
on the contrary from the tortures,
                                      [were intoxicated.

They ignored purposely,
                         [this violation,
and our own mind castration…

             After a long delay of several years,
             where my mind gradually clears,
             and those teachers, 
                             [the oblivion never embraces,

             I spit.....     on those bastards faces.

_______________________

* Extract from "The Broken Mooring Line", an experiential
poetic work // page c 6 // e-mail: pmataragas@yahoo.com //
Texts and Narration: Odysseus Heavilayias - ROTTERDAM //
Language adjustments and text adaptation: Kellene G Safis - CHICAGO//
Digital adaptation and text editing: Cathy Rapakoulia Mataraga - PIRAEUS

______________________________________________________________

* Hazing in schools, prohibited by law and may comprise either physical or psychological abuse. Spitting upon another person, especially onto the face, is a universal sign of anger, hatred, discrespect or contempt. 

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, or (French: Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen) of August 1789 is a fundamental document of the French Revolution and in the history of human rights. It defines the individual and collective rights of all the estates of the realm as universal. Influenced by the doctrine of "natural right", the rights of man are held to be universal: valid at all times and in every place, pertaining to human nature itself. It became the basis for a nation of free individuals protected equally by law. 

It is included in the preamble of the constitutions of both the Fourth French Republic (1946) and Fifth Republic (1958) and is still current. Inspired in part by the American Revolution, the Declaration was a core statement of the values of the French revolution and had a major impact on the development of liberty and democracy in Europe and worldwide. 

Some notions of righteousness present in ancient law and religion is sometimes retrospectively included under the term "human rights". While Enlightenment philosophers suggest a secular social contract between the rulers and the ruled, ancient traditions derived similar conclusions from notions of divine law, and, in Hellenistic philosophy, natural law. 

source

The Tales of a Greek Sailor