Among all the patriotic trappings (emphasis on trap) surrounding the commissioning this month of a nuclear submarine named for a state with neither seacoasts nor nuclear reactors was a poem, an ode to America’s ability to rain stealthy death on the dark forces who threaten our sleeping children:
God speed, great warship of the deep,
entrusted by our Motherland
to protect our shores
while our children sleep.
For the odyssey ahead will
demand much from commander and crew,
gallant sailors chosen from the special few.
May you be inspired by those
who fought so honorably before
aboard the USS South Dakota,
feared Battleship X,
decorated for its heroic engagements
during the Second World War.
God speed, valiant sentry of the deep,
commissioned to protect our homeland
while our children sleep.
To your namesake’s legacy
may you always be true,
with stealth and tenacity
bravely perform the missions
commanded of you.
Forthwith let the annals of naval history
chronicle your service with distinction,
for you must know, SSN 790,
that you have the trust of a grateful nation.
God speed, mighty vessel of the deep,
vanquish, if necessary,
dark forces that threaten America
while our children sleep.
From the Great State of South Dakota,
home of Mt. Rushmore,
with its iconic symbols of liberty
chiseled in stone,
accept this prayerful declaration.
If, in the service of our country,
perils of war put you in harm’s way,
may you be inspired by Crazy Horse,
who fought bravely,
impervious to enemy fire,
and, guided by the spirit of Black Elk,
forget not that for which you stand,
rock solid in the service of our nation,
knowing you are in the thoughts and prayers
of a free homeland.
[Brian D. Hagg, U.S. Army 1969–1982, “On the Occasion of the Commissioning of the USS South Dakota (SSN 790): A Poetic Tribute,” draft amended 2018.11.28]
Have an Army guy write a poem about a Navy ship, and that’s what you get.
Now don’t get me wrong: big ships are cool. I visited a shipyard in Nova Scotia once and was blown away by the massive warships in the harbor… and those were just polite little Canadian ships. The USS South Dakota weighs as much as 65 blue whales and costs as much as two Trump walls.
But that doesn’t change the fact that this poem celebrates a phallic machine designed to destroy and celebrates it with pedestrian verbage, bad Christianity, and a contradictory co-optation of Lakota heroes who fought this military war machine.
I struggle to find a line in the poem worth quoting, worth pointing out to students as an example of a creative or memorable turn of phrase. The poem seeks to impose some regularity on its random-length stanzas (13, 12, 19 lines) and occasional half-hearted rhymes (distinction and nation do not meaningfully rhyme any more than cupola and the) by opening each brief meditation with a wish for holy speed through the deep “while our children sleep”—a phrase repeated thrice, more than any other image, as if sleep is the greatest endeavor in our nation worth protecting. Besides—the last dark forces who attacked our shores did so by the time most of our kids were up and in school… and all the submarines in the fleet weren’t able to stop that attack.
The poem resorts to the usual appeals of “Christians” who think God cheers on one set of his children throwing rocks at another set of his children. The Christian God I’ve heard about would rather we prayerfully declare His Son’s message of salvation through forgiveness and love than impute His power to an instrument of death.
Similarly, “the spirit of Black Elk,” were that Lakota holy man still available for comment, said nothing about directing Tomahawk missiles at the white man’s enemies. While Black Elk witnessed his people’s greatest victory against their white enemy at Little Big Horn and that white enemy’s revenge at the Massacre of Wounded Knee, his spirit lives on due not to military exploits but to a vision of peace and cultural restoration. Invoking Black Elk’s name to bless some lethal technological device is at best an empty name-check, not an e-pluribus-unum-izing expression of understanding or respect.
And to invoke Crazy Horse—well, I speculate that the undefeated chief who resisted until his death all the trappings (again, emphasis on trap) of the white invaders’ technology would spit on both the poem and the great iron carp against which the poet smashes Crazy Horse’s name.
Dulce et decorum est pro patria annihilare, this poem cries, forgetting that we’ve already been taught not to listen to that old Lie. And while celebrating annilihation, this poem takes a destructive shots at Christianity and indigenous history.
Don’t fall for the old Lie, and don’t wrap that lie with Jesus or Black Elk. Let us offer a more apt benediction for every ship and sailor:
USS South Dakota: may your missiles never roar.
May you rust unused ashore.
May your every sailor die at home, in bed,
Never called to make the living dead.
Will they show porn on board?
Actually, I prefer this:
Russians
Sting
In Europe and America there’s a growing feeling of hysteria.
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets.
MIster Krushchev said, “We will bury you.”
I don’t subscribe to this point of view.
It’d be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their children too.
How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer’s deadly toy?
There is no monopoly on common sense
On either side of the political fence.
We share the same biology, regardless of ideology.
Believe me when I say to you,
I hope the Russians love their children too
There is no historical precedent
To put the words in the mouth of the president?
There’s no such thing as a winnable war,
It’s a lie we don’t believe anymore.
Mister Reagan says, “We will protect you.”
I don’t subscribe to this point of view.
Believe me when I say to you,
I hope the Russians love their children too
We share the same biology, regardless of ideology.
But what might save us, me and you,
Is if the Russians love their children too
Songwriters: Gordon Sumner / Serge Prokofieff
Russians lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
That’s pretty good Mr. Sol. The first poem? Not so much. The first is a valiant effort by a military man to write a suitably military sounding poetic piece, so I give him credit.
That’s about it.
Valiant? I like to thin valor produces better results. I feel a merely casual reach for familiar tropes.
Mr. Sol, you cite Sting quite appropriately. Thank you.
Cory caught the ‘Ten Summoner’s Tales’ author by his given name. Nice catch.
The other dude was no slouch at music either. Sergei ProkofievCompositions
Romeo and Juliet
Peter and the Wolf
Piano Concerto No. 3
Symphony No. 1
Symphony No. 5
The Love for Three Oranges
Piano Concerto No. 2
Montagues and Capulets
Alexander Nevsky
Piano Sonata No. 7
Violin Concerto No. 1
Visions fugitives
Violin Concerto No. 2
War and Peace
Lieutenant Kijé
Symphony No. 7
plus he had a horse.
SD has no ACTIVE nuclear reactor.
Au contraire, O. The Troll reacts nukularly to every article Cory posts to draw attention to his pastey white hide.
O! Are the Pathfinder parts still in Sioux Falls? Could we fire it up again?
No, you could not fire up Pathfinder again. The fuel was moved out of there in 1970, and the reactor vessel was removed in 1990.
https://www.argusleader.com/story/life/2014/03/30/citys-nuclear-age-lasted-year/7043837/
Now if you are talking about the Nissan Pathfinder, yes, you can go to the dealer and fire one of those up in Sioux Falls….
If you are wondering if it were possible to have small modular reactors provide our power, the answer is they already do in the Navy. And they do so both reliably and safely….without fossil fuel or renewables. Plus they desalinate their water as they go along.
How do we know it wasn’t the Muslim God?
It was in fact a Muslim God.
God, Muslim or otherwise, drowned in a bowl of cereal. All God points are moot. There is no God. Or gods. Except the pagan and goblin gods, who are funny to watch and read about. And the god that lives in Mr. Howie’s mind that he has branded into Mr. Haugaard’s, insisting that no women from Rapid City ever go panty-less again in the legislatures. But yet, it goes on.
Roger,
Cory said it was a Christian God.
You will need to prove to him it was a Muslim God.
Roger would know. When in doubt, always believe Roger. 😊
Never believe Jason the Coward.
Are you saying Cory is wrong Debbo?
Jason, you do know that Cory and Debbo are laughing at you, you are hilarious.
USS South Dakota has a screen door named after Kristi Noem? Makes sense, in a not necessary, mostly ineffective and highly harmful kinda way. 😉
Jason, a god who would bless a machine of death is no god worth our worship.
I believe it is reasonable to assume that a poem commissioned by South Dakota’s white Christian majority government, written by a white Christian, using the term “God” and not “Allah” or another deifiv moniker, refers to the Christian God. There is no evidence to support your suggestion.
The “Creator” would not build such a grotesque iron killing machine.
What Cory and Roger said.
The ongoing idea, promoted by people, is that their god is on their side of a conflict, bloody wars especially. Boko Haram means “Army of God.” Of course the popes and royalty participating in the Crusades swore they had their god on their side against the other side’s evil god.
The god of the Christian bible is in no one’s side in a war. Don’t tell me about David or Joshua or even Deborah. Those are ancient myths, interpretations of of oral histories handed down through generations. Just like each side in the US Civil War, the storytellers of those old tales believed that the God of their understanding supported their slaughter.
To get it right, you have to look at how many people Jesus slaughtered and how many wars he supported. He is the lode star, so to speak, when it comes to understanding the bible and the Christian god.
Thanks Debbo
I don’t know where I heard this said, but it still rings true today, “God’s don’t kill, people that believe in their God’s kill”.
Exactly, Roger.