THERE IS WAR... VARIATIONS ON A THEME

THERE IS WAR... VARIATIONS ON A THEME
By Sandra Dermark, on a snippet by Oscar Wilde

"There is war in the mountains of Tartary, and the kings of each side are calling to Death. The Afghans have slain the black ox, and are marching to battle. They have beaten upon their shields with their spears, and have put on their helmets of iron."
Oscar Wilde.

Grim visions of cruelty and oppression are painted in distant lands of Afghanistan. A third level of space is introduced here than that of the dream world and the real world. The translocation is achieved in a mental space through very graphic descriptions.

What she says is another exotic picture of faraway lands, and like previous such pictures, each sentence consists of two clauses connected by additive and-conjunctions:
There is war in the mountains of Tartary, and the kings of each side are calling to thee. The Afghans have slain the black ox, and are marching to battle. They have beaten upon their shields with their spears, and have put on their helmets of iron. What is my valley to thee, that thou should'st tarry in it? Get thee gone, and come here no more. 



My own later historical variations:

There is war in the mountains of Bohemia, and the kings of each side are calling to Death. The Leaguers have made the sign of the cross, and are marching to battle. They have beaten upon their breastplates with their rosaries, and have put on their helmets of steel.

There is war in the steppes of Ukraine, and the kings of each side are calling to Death. The Swedes have loaded their flintlocks, and are marching to battle. They have fixed their bayonets upon their firearms for spears, and have put on their tricorns of black felt.

There is war in the countryside of Wallonia, and the kings of each side are calling to Death. The French have sung La Marseillaise, and are marching to battle. They have ornated their shakos with their tricolor cockades, and have put on their coats of blue.

There is war on the fields of Flanders, and the leaders of each side are calling to Death. The Germans have brought the chlorine by train, and are marching to battle. They have taken their places by the gatlings in their trenches, and have put on their Pickelhaube helmets of steel.

There is war in the plains of Poland, and the leaders of each side are calling to Death. The Russians have gathered at Lenin's grave, and are marching to battle. They have loaded their Kalashnikov carbines, and have put on their shapkas of rabbit fur.

There is war in the lands of the Balkans, and the leaders of each side are calling to Death. The Serbs have prayed to the gilt icons, and are marching to battle. They have turned their bottles into Molotov cocktails, and have put on their berets of felt.