text:
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Fiction by Garrison Phillips
Garrison Phillips
Claire called Parker at 7:30 to make sure he was awake and wouldn't oversleep. It was the morning after Kevin's memorial service.
"Parker, are you there? Yoo hoo."
Parker was already awake but pretended not to be. He answered with a sleepy mumble, "Gimme a minute." He switched off the answering machine and placed the telephone on the table. He rolled onto his side and carefully lowered his feet to the floor just as he had learned from the nurses when he was in the hospital. He squared himself upright and pulled Kevin's jacket across his shoulders as he reached for the telephone again.
Claire was still talking. "Today is another gift and the message for the day is—are you ready?"
Parker's ear began to itch. He rubbed the telephone against it as Claire babbled on. His ear tingled as he scratched at it and Parker felt the strangeness—the pressure of the telephone against his ear as it began to swell, pushing slowly outwards.
Claire was rattling on, "And with that kind of a message for the day why we just cannot let it go by without celebrating with lunch. I'm free so it's my treat at the Atrium on Third. I'll stop by the shop for you. 12:30 sharp."
Parker looked at the telephone. The little holes were spreading wider as the receiver slowly enlarged.
"Parker?"
Parker's scalp felt all tight and a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. The telephone was beginning to slowly pulsate—the holes in the receiver were like little mouths with their lips pursed in round O's. Out. In. Out. In. Parker slipped his right hand around his left wrist and carefully guiding his hand he placed the telephone on the night table.
Claire's voice continued. "Parker, are you all right? Answer me, Parker."
He moistened his lips. His mouth was dry and his voice cracked as he leaned to the night table and whispered into the telephone. "Claire. It's okay. I'll have to call you back."
"What is it, honey? Do you need help? I'll send Andy. He hasn't left for the office yet."
"Bathroom," Parker croaked. "I'll call you back."
The telephone was growing larger and now covered half of the night table and through the little holes, pieces of Claire were oozing through. First Parker saw various fingers, one with the twinkling, opal ring. Then he could see the edge of her gold-framed glasses and tips of her red hair curling through the pulsating holes of the disc.
Parker knelt, lifted the heavy telephone and edged in into its cradle. He tried to swallow, to rid himself of the dry, metallic taste in his mouth. He cupped his palms to his eyes and then, as he pressed his fingers across his forehead and back along his scalp, he was surprised to see that the telephone looked just like it always did. Same size. Same phone. No swelling. No Claire.
That was the first time. The first time anyone had tried to climb through the telephone.
That same morning, Kevin's brother, Richard, appeared at the apartment with papers he wanted Parker to sign. Richard refused Parker's hospitality—the offer of tea and a plain bagel. Parker sipped his tea as Richard explained his mission; the apartment belonged to Parker but any claim on any other property would be contested by Kevin's family.
Parker listened quietly as he finished his tea, picked up Kevin's jacket and said, "We settled all that. Now I have to go to work. I have to finish the chair."
Parker's response took Richard by surprise and he fumbled the papers he was trying to sort and in the process dropped his briefcase.
Parker watched as Richard, on his hands and knees, picked up the contents of the briefcase. Then Parker gestured at the offered papers. "Where do I sign?"
Richard pushed a pen toward Parker and pointed to the signature lines.
Parker quickly signed his name and turned to leave. "Please pull the door closed when you go. It's self-locking."
There was still some work to be done on the rocking chair. Parker had started to work on the chair after Kevin said he felt better when he could rock. The old chair in their apartment was falling apart so Parker began from scratch with scraps of cherry wood from the shop. When Tony, the burly, Italian shop owner, found out about Parker's project, he called all over the city to find good, unblemished cherry wood and gave it to Parker. Then, when Kevin had died, Parker explained to Tony that the rocking chair would be for the kids at the school. "That would be what Kevin would want," Parker explained.
Tony gladly gave Parker all the time he needed to work on the chair. And that was every time Parker had a spare minute and now it was close to being finished.
Parker hurried to the shop. He needed to get to work, to be away from the apartment. On the way he put on and took off Kevin's jacket a half a dozen times or more. He wanted to feel its warmth, but then, when he had it on, he wanted to hold it. So, on and off it went—Kevin around him, Kevin in his arms.
That first morning, Parker had assumed it might be just Claire who seeped through the telephone. But then, a couple of days later, Tony called to see if he could be in early to finish up a cabinet and it began all over again. Big Tony, trying to force himself through the puffy receiver holes. Except Tony's fingers had poked through all at once. All ten of them with the dark little hairs tufted at the knuckles like miniature eyebrows.
So Parker stopped answering the telephone. And he was terrified of it. Even in the dark, he was aware of its presence on the night table. It troubled his sleep and he would wake and turn on the light to look at it. What was happening? Parker covered it with a shopping bag but that didn't help. The morning after Tony's call, Parker rummaged through his dresser for winter gloves. Then he cut the telephone wire with a butcher knife. He scooped the telephone onto a newspaper and into a shopping bag, depositing it in a dumpster on Houston Street on his way to the shop. Parker felt better at once, relieved that he wouldn't have to face it in the apartment any more.
Later that morning, Claire's husband Andy called him on the shop's pay phone to find out if his home phone in the apartment was broken. Kevin had been fraternity brothers with Andy and Doc in college twenty years earlier. Andy was concerned that Parker's own health was deteriorating now that Kevin was gone. He wanted Parker to go see Doc. Andy was describing a new drug trial he had heard about when his fingers popped through the telephone and Parker banged the receiver down so hard he snapped it off the wall hook.
Parker fled to the back corner of the shop with Tony following him.
"Hey, Park. What is it?"
"It's okay. I have to go see Doc." Parker was sweating and his breath came in short bursts, as though he had run a long way.
"You're wringing wet. You can't go out like that."
"Tony, please. I have to." Parker grabbed Kevin's jacket and raced out of the shop.
At Doc's office, Parker paced the waiting room until the nurse indicated he could go in. Fortunately, there was only one person ahead of him.
"Doc, something's wrong," he blurted out before Doc could close the door of the examining room.
"Ease up. It's been a rough go, but you're doing just fine."
"I'm okay, it's the telephone. When people call, I can see them."
"You're still upset—that's natural. Just give it a little space. This sort of thing can happen. Your imagination, the medication—a little hallucination. Something is obviously bothering you. We can handle that, so tell me about it."
"I know about dementia." Parker drew away as Doc gripped his shoulder.
"That's not it. Don't make it any harder on yourself."
"But the telephone. When someone calls ... the telephone—I can see them. Part of them. It—"
Doc interrupted, "It's only natural you miss Kevin."
Why wouldn't Doc listen to him? Parker wondered. Perched uneasily on the examining table, he banged his heels against the plastic cover and tried to dry his sweaty palms as he rubbed them down the side of his painter's pants. He took a deep breath, then calmly tried again, "The telephone. People try to ooze through the little holes."
Doc was slamming things about in the white metal and glass cabinet. When he turned, Parker saw the needle in his hand and scrambled up on top of the examination table to get further away. "No. I don't need that."
Doc moved toward the table, the needle poised, "Come down from there. You're upset."
"Put that down. Put that away." Parker was bunched into the corner at the far end of the table. "Please. Please listen to me. I'm okay. I'm not forgetting things and I'm fine at work. It's just the telephone..."
"Dammit, calm down." Doc carefully placed the needle on the white metal table beside the door.
Parker didn't move from his corner on the table.
"It's okay. See. I put the needle away."
"It's the telephone. Everyone who calls. I see bits of them pushing though the receiver. Why?"
"Something is bothering you. Of course you must miss Kevin so let's just give it some time." Doc reached to touch Parker's shoulder.
Parker had lost more weight since his last visit to see Doc. Doc weighed him on the scales, listened to his heartbeat. Doc had been with Kevin the hot July night they met. It had been the Seventies, Pines, Fire Island. Parker was dancing alone in front of the DJ booth, spinning in a tight little circle. He was stripped to the waist, his tie-dyed, ripped undershirt hanging by one strap around his neck. As he turned about, dripping wet from the heat and the booze and the non-stop dancing, he softly chanted "Doesn't anyone want to fuck a vanishing American?" over and over again. Parker suddenly paused, halted by the sight of Kevin. With a wide grin lighting up his face, Parker stretched his arms wide in an invitation for Kevin to join him.
Kevin had turned to Doc and said, "Well, lookee what I found." And that was it. Kevin, the unattainable, copper-haired cover boy, and Parker, the part-Mohawk carpenter became an item. Kevin had curbed Parker's roaring binges. He had never lost control of himself again for the entire fifteen years they were together. Now it felt like all was unraveling. Something had shifted. He was losing his balance.
As Doc shone a light into his eyes, Parker pictured the cedar, summer house at the Pines in a grove of black cherry trees which he and Kevin had shared for years. He had fit in quickly with Kevin's friends. The next summer, another bedroom, bath and deck had been added to the house, pushing further into the dense forest. Parker remembered it was like sleeping in the tree tops.
"We can do some tests," Doc said.
"Tests?"
The intercom bell sounded two short pings, paused and then pinged again. It was the signal from Doc's nurse that something or someone needed his immediate attention. Doc guided Parker through the door and down the hallway to the bathroom. "Wash your face, Park. I'll be back in a couple of minutes and we can talk. Okay? And lock the door." Parker couldn't leave the office without exiting through the reception room which Doc could see from his office. He would alert Pam, his nurse, as well.
Parker had waited for Doc to disappear down the hall, then closed the door. He was confused, muddled in his thoughts. Kevin was gone. But now Parker knew, without knowing how he knew, that he could find Kevin at the Rumsey Playground. He had to explain to Kevin, what he had tried to tell him in the hospital. It was Doc's statement about something bothering him that triggered Parker's thought of the playground.
He tied the arms of Kevin's jacket about his waist and crossed to the small window and raised the blind. He unlocked the window, raised the sash and hoisted himself up onto the narrow sill. The building was pre-war, made of brick, and the outside sills were great blocks of gray slate. The sill was still wet from the morning rain and Parker inhaled the autumn aroma of Central Park a block away as he pulled himself through the window. He slowly lowered himself, his fingers grasping the slate sill. He stretched toward the sidewalk, lifted himself slightly and then dropped lithely, sinking into a body-roll as he hit the pavement. A year ago it would have been a snap for him. Now he banged his knees and ended up in a jumbled heap, amazingly with no broken bones. He stood up too quickly and steadied himself against the building before lurching toward the park. He crossed the street to avoid a telephone booth and slipped into the bright foliage of the park at 59th Street.
The playground where Kevin usually took his students was back of the Mother Goose statue at 69th Street and the East Drive. The Plaza itself was surrounded by a tall ring of London Plane trees, each tree trunk wound about with English Ivy. Kevin always said the trees looked like they wore great, green, leg warmers. It was a favorite spot for outings with the children from his school. Kevin had told him, "It's a magic spot, you know. And the magic is from all the kids' laughter." Now, the Plaza drew Parker like a magnet.
Just north of the zoo Parker cut west so he could pass through the memorial grove that sheltered the company markers honoring the men of the 307th Infantry who were lost in World War I. Kevin's grandfather's name was there, etched into the brass marker on the boulder centered in the memorial grove.
Parker brushed his fingers lightly over the letters of Kevin's family name, Trumbull. The two of them had visited the marker so many times over the years. Now he remembered how Kevin had explained that it was a name that spelled big banking and a town house in the East 70s. It meant a summer cottage at Newport and race horses in Kentucky and power politics. Yet, in the Argonne, it had offered no protection from the lethal gas as it crept through the shattered forest and seeped through the muddy trenches into the officer's mess.
For Kevin, the name provided privilege and private schools, Harvard and, finally, Columbia Law School. But when he started modeling, the family asked him not to use their name. Later, the family rift widened when Kevin, although passing the bar exam, chose to work with handicapped children at the little school in Yorkville.
Kevin had said, "Now I'm like you. An orphan."
Parker had looked quickly away, taking a deep breath. Slowly turning back to Kevin, giving himself enough time to put a smile in his reply, he said, "Not quite. You don't ever want to see the inside of an orphanage. Don't you understand, you're my family now."
Parker was suddenly tired again and shivered as his sweat-streaked shirt dried in a damp chill against his skin. He untied Kevin's jacket from his waist and pulled it around his shoulders. He tried to remember exactly what Doc had said about his medications. There was something else. Something about being worried and missing Kevin. Then Parker remembered, he had to talk to Kevin. Tell him what he had tried to say in the hospital when Kevin was so ill. Parker was certain that when he explained to Kevin, that would stop the people from oozing through the telephone. Somehow the two were connected.
Parker walked quickly up the slight rise toward the Mother Goose statue. He could rest now, and he sat and leaned back against the statue. He was so tired and his eyes closed as he slipped into sleep.
He dreamed that Kevin was there and then, suddenly, he felt Kevin's warm embrace. Parker squinted, trying to focus more clearly. Everything was so hazy.
"I'm sorry I'm late."
"Not to worry, I waited for you." Kevin continued by quoting a favorite old saying just the way Parker knew he would. "In a hundred years, we'll never know the difference."
"You know, I waited for you, too. Lots of times." Parker hated that he had just blurted it out. He'd meant to soften it, not to sound as though it was an issue over which they had argued. "I told you in the hospital, but you were so drugged. I wanted you to know." That was better, he thought. It was important to tell Kevin this, to get it off his mind.
"What? Tell me what?"
"Our adventure nights. When we took our Saturday night away from each other every month." Parker hesitated. He didn't want to sound petulant. "I always waited for you." There. He'd said it. It hadn't been so bad. He felt all right.
Parker watched as Kevin hunkered down on the top of the slate steps, his arms clasped around his knees.
Parker continued. "When we'd go our separate ways, I'd just wander around. Go to a movie maybe. Bars don't make it since I quit drinking. Sometimes I'd sit on the waterfront at Christopher Street or take long walks if it wasn't too rainy or cold. Or I'd take the subways or buses. All over the city. Clear out to Coney Island or up to Pelham Bay."
"You're telling me you didn't go out to the bars?"
"Un huh. I followed you once into one of those back rooms and I watched you. I stood close to you and watched your face and I heard you call my name. You were with some guy but you called my name in your excitement."
"What?" Kevin had moved along the playground wall to stand with his arm around the pedestal topped by the statue of the little girl.
"But that was wrong. My watching you. It was your privacy and so after that I just waited for you. Killing time around the city. Waiting."
"You watched me? Come on."
"I saw you in a cubicle—down the steps from the pool table."
"The Lair. I pretended you were with me. Then you called my name and I freaked. I knew you couldn't see me but it scared the hell out of me. You must have been thinking of me to call out my name like that and—it made me feel ... so empty, not being with you. I just ran."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was afraid you'd think I was spying on you. Afraid of losing you. You wanted your adventure nights, so I agreed."
Parker felt dizzy again watching Kevin. He moved about so much. Now he was standing beside Mother Goose again.
"We should have talked. And why did you worry? I told you we'd never split. Never happen. Not with us."
Parker leaned closer as he watched Kevin slowly trace the outline of Humpty Dumpty carved on the side of the statue. He felt dizzy and leaned back against the statue. Finally, he weakly managed, "But you went away."
"Humpty Dumpty had a great fall." Parker, his face so close, whispered, "And all the king's horses and all the king's men ... "
Parker reached to pull Kevin's face closer but he had moved away to the top of the stairs leading to the playground. Parker started to get up but felt dizzy again and sank quickly back. He was so tired.
Kevin's voice continued. "I miss the kids so much." His voice sounded far away, barely audible. "I miss you, too, Parker."
Parker sat up, "You do?"
"A lot. And you know that I'll wait for you. Always."
Parker watched as Kevin climbed astride the Mother Goose statue, his chin resting on the billowing cape, staring at the empty playground.
He flinched as Kevin jumped from the statue and landed, softly as a cat, on the steps beside him. He could feel Kevin's warmth, pressing himself closer like he used to do, begging to be cuddled. Parker tried to raise his hand to pull Kevin closer. And then Kevin was leaning over him, their foreheads touching. Softly, Kevin kissed him, his golden hair falling in a gentle cover over Parker's eyes. Parker moved his face slowly back and forth, letting Kevin's hair caress him. He was happier than at any time since Kevin had gone away. He felt safe again. Unafraid. He wanted to tell Kevin about the telephone. Kevin would understand. Parker tried to speak of all the whirling thoughts, darting shadows in his mind. Instead, he only yawned. He was so tired. Parker pulled Kevin's jacket close about him and curled up against the Mother Goose statue and slipped quietly into sleep again, happy that Kevin was with him.
Children's laughter awakened him. Parker was stiff from sleeping in his cramped position and now he rubbed his legs to ease the spasm of pain as he tried to stand. He looked at the Mother Goose statue and she was still flying determinedly towards the East Drive but Kevin was gone. Parker slowly got to his feet and limped to the statue. He traced the outline of Humpty Dumpty just as Kevin had done, murmuring, "... Humpty Dumpty had a great fall." Suddenly he smiled as he remembered Kevin's words—"I'll wait for you." It was going to be okay and Parker began to smile and the smile broadened into a wild shout of joy. Kevin had not abandoned him. He was waiting. It was like a long Saturday adventure night. And Parker began to laugh, flooded with relief that Kevin had said he would wait for him. His laughter pushed him on his way as he careened wildly across the East Drive and along the walks toward Fifth Avenue. Kevin's jacket flapped around him in his haste, as though it, too, was in a hurry.
Parker had to get to work. All the way downtown on the bus, he held tightly to the metal bar resting on top of the seat in front of him. It was as though his very grip could make the bus go faster.
Parker paused outside the shop, eyeing the pay telephone on the wall. He didn't trust getting close to the telephone even though the receiver dangled at the end of the cord from the broken cradle.
Tony saw him through the shop window and walked quickly to greet him.
"Hey, old buddy. You saw Doc, right?"
Embarrassed by his reluctance to enter the shop past the broken telephone, Parker began to trace his fingers over the shop letters painted in bright green and red on the window—'Tony's Cabinet and Woodworking.' Then, breathing slowly and deeply, he answered, "Yeah. I saw Doc."
Tony waved his hand toward the broken telephone. "I called the telephone company and they're sending a guy to take it out."
Parker stopped his tracing of the painted lettering and looked up at Tony in surprise.
"Claire and Andy were here looking for you. We talked it over so the telephone comes out for now." Tony gestured toward the shop, "Everyone can use the phone in the office."
Parker smiled. "You know it's only when I answer that it happens. And, I'm okay. Doc says it's probably just a reaction to my medication." It was so much easier to talk about it now that he'd seen Kevin.
"We figured that. Doc called me. Now, you gotta get back to work. On the chair and the new cabinet orders."
Parker smoothed the jacket as he hugged himself, waiting for the tension in his back to subside, remembering Kevin's touch. He breathed deeply, relaxed his arms slightly and hugged the jacket about his shoulders again, stretching the tiredness from his back.
"Sunday you're comin' out to the beach for dinner. Claire and Andy and the kids will pick you up. Marie says to tell you to choose the menu." Tony gently touched his hand to Parker's shoulder.
"Oh, that's great. Great. Tell Marie I'd love her spaghetti with the bacon and onion sauce." Parker glanced quickly at Tony and then turned toward the doorway of the shop. "I guess I'd better get back to work."
Parker sidled past the broken telephone but stopped inside the doorway. The telephone no longer seemed threatening. He reached to touch the cord and then the dangling receiver. He wasn't afraid of it any longer and he heaved a deep sigh of relief. With a smile to Tony and a wave of his hand, he walked quickly back to his workbench. He smoothed the wood on the table, carefully aligned his work tools and then turned to look at the rocking chair. Parker moved slowly to caress the arms and the high, rounded back of the chair. He ran his hands across the spindles, touching them lightly as though playing a harp. He removed Kevin's jacket and placed it carefully on the back of the chair, smoothing the jacket sleeves along the arms. Then Parker moved around the far side of the chair, a tiny smile curving his lips. He touched the rocker lightly with his foot to set the chair in motion. Parker watched it for a moment and then stepped to his work counter. He picked up a half-finished cabinet door frame and began to sand it vigorously, turning every so often to smile at the chair as it continued to rock gently back and forth.
Garrison Phillips is a Korean War Veteran, a graduate of WVU, and a retired actor. He writes a blog, Everyday Strolls, for Senior Planet of OATS (Older Adults Technology Services) which teaches the Internet free to senior citizens. He has had articles and letters published in the quarterly journal of the Allegheny Regional Family History Society, The New York Native, The SAGE Newsletter, monologues in By Actors, For Actors, and a short story in Apalachee Review.
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Excerpt (32)


text:
Q: goroutine not returning memory to OS I want to make sure my pod doesn't get restarted when out of memory. Now I see that container has low heapMem usage but SysMem usage has increased to 4Gb and doesn't recede with heapMem. I believe GC should have returned this to OS.

Prometheus stats used to monitor go_memstats_alloc_bytes and go_memstats_sys_bytes. I also see go_memstats_gc_cpu_fraction doesn't increase overtime.
Am I missing something? Is there a possible mem leak?

A: It does not look like a memory leak from the graph, just a temporary use of more memory.  Note that after a GC the released memory won't be returned to the OS (immediately) in case it is needed again.  If you had a single temporary spike in memory use then it will be returned to the OS over time.
In some systems it may only be made available to the OS which may not accept it unless it's needed elsewhere.  (This was pointed out in the comments but I did not want to get into too much detail, to avoid confusion.)
You can force freed memory to be returned immediately using debug.FreeOSMemory().

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Tränen des Vaterlandes ist ein Sonett von Andreas Gryphius. Es ist "eines der bekanntesten Barockgedichte", "das wahrscheinlich berühmteste deutsche Gedicht des 17. Jahrhunderts", "fester Bestandteil des schulischen und universitären Kanons", "immer wieder nachgedruckt in Anthologien und Lesebüchern", und "hat wie kaum ein anderes eine intensive Forschungsgeschichte".

Das Gedicht wurde erstmals 1637 als sechsundzwanzigstes der 31 sogenannten "Lissaer Sonette" im heute polnischen Lissa publiziert. Es trug dort den Titel Trawrklage des verwüsteten Deutschlandes. Der nächste Druck, eine stark überarbeitete Fassung unter dem Titel Threnen des Vatterlandes / Anno 1636, erschien 1643 in Leiden, siebenundzwanzigstes der Sammlung von 50 Sonetten "ANDREAE GRYPHII SONNETE. Das erste Buch." Weitere Drucke zu Gryphius' Lebzeiten erfolgten 1650, 1657 und schließlich in der Ausgabe letzter Hand 1663. Der Untertitel "Anno 1636" nennt vermutlich das Jahr der Entstehung – mitten im Dreißigjährigen Krieg.

Die 1637er Fassung wurde 1963 neu gedruckt in Band 1 einer von Marian Szyrocki und Hugh Powell verantworteten Gesamtausgabe der deutschsprachigen Werke, die 1663er Fassung 2012 von Thomas Borgstedt.

Text
Die Texte sind Szyrockis und Borgstedts Neudrucken entnommen.

Trawrklage des verwüsteten Deutschlandes. (1637)

WIr sind doch nunmehr gantz / ja mehr alß gantz vertorben.
Der frechen Völcker schar / die rasende Posaun /
Daß vom Blutt feiste Schwerd / die donnernde Carthaun /
Hat alles diß hinweg / was mancher sawr erworben /
Die alte Redligkeit vnnd Tugend ist gestorben;
Die Kirchen sind verheert / die Starcken vmbgehawn /
Die Jungfrawn sind geschänd; vnd wo wir hin nur schawn /
Ist Fewr / Pest / Mord vnd Todt / hier zwischen Schantz vñ Korbẽ
Dort zwischen Mawr vñ Stad / rint allzeit frisches Blutt
Dreymal sind schon sechs Jahr als vnser Ströme Flutt
Von so viel Leichen schwer / sich langsam fortgedrungen.
Ich schweige noch von dehm / was stärcker als der Todt /
(Du Straßburg weist es wol) der grimmen Hungersnoth /
Vnd daß der Seelen=Schatz gar vielen abgezwungen.
Thränen des Vaterlandes / Anno 1636. (1663)

WIr sind doch nunmehr gantz / ja mehr denn gantz verheeret!
Der frechen Völcker Schaar / die rasende Posaun
Das vom Blutt fette Schwerdt / die donnernde Carthaun /
Hat aller Schweiß / und Fleiß / und Vorrath auffgezehret.
Die Türme stehn in Glutt / die Kirch ist umgekehret.
Das Rathauß ligt im Grauß / die Starcken sind zerhaun /
Die Jungfern sind geschänd't / und wo wir hin nur schaun
Ist Feuer / Pest / und Tod / der Hertz und Geist durchfähret.
Hir durch die Schantz und Stadt / rinnt allzeit frisches Blutt.
Dreymal sind schon sechs Jahr / als vnser Ströme Flutt /
Von Leichen fast verstopfft / sich langsam fort gedrungen.
Doch schweig ich noch von dem / was ärger als der Tod /
Was grimmer denn die Pest / und Glutt und Hungersnoth
Das auch der Seelen Schatz / so vielen abgezwungen.

Interpretation
Die Interpretation geht von der Fassung von 1663 aus, die sich von der 1643er und den dazwischenliegenden wenig unterscheidet. Die Germanistin Nicola Kaminski hat davon ironisch als den "in der Forschung fast ausnahmslos größerer Beliebtheit sich erfreuenden" gesprochen. Auch Erich Trunz hat sie seiner von allen Späteren als wegweisend bezeichneten Analyse aus dem Jahr 1949 zugrundegelegt.

Form
Das Gedicht ist wie alle Lissaer Sonette in dem 1624 von Martin Opitz in seinem Buch von der Deutschen Poeterey für Sonette empfohlenen Versmaß des Alexandriners verfasst mit dem ebenfalls von Opitz empfohlenen Reimschema "abba abba" für die Quartette und "ccd eed" für die Terzette. Die Verse mit den "a"- und "d"-Reimen sind dreizehnsilbig, die Reime weiblich, die Verse mit den "b"-, "c"- und "e"-Reimen sind zwölfsilbig, daher entsprechend den Ausgaben von Szyrocki und Borgstedt eingerückt, die Reime männlich. Die Zäsur folgt regelhaft der sechsten Silbe. Im ersten Vers hat Gryphius den Satz "WIr sind doch nunmehr gantz <…> verheeret" durch den Einschub "ja mehr denn gantz" in das Versmaß des Alexandriners eingepasst. Doch sind die Verse nicht monoton. Eine differenzierte Abfolge von Tempowechseln, etwa von Vers 2 und 3 zu Vers 4 und von Vers 5 bis 7 zu Vers 8, erzeugt eine kunstvolle Dynamik. Binnenreime – Schweiß/Fleiß, Rathauß/Grauß –, Alliterationen – der frechen Völcker, Schaar/Schwerdt/Schweiß, Fleiß/Vorrath, Schantz und Stadt – und Enjambements – von Vers 3 zu 4, von Vers 7 zu 8 – tragen zur Musikalität bei. Nach Trunz entspricht der Alexandriner in seiner Weiträumigkeit der Masse dessen, was gesagt werden soll. Sein stolzer Schritt gebe allem feste Gestalt. Seine Gesetzlichkeit bändige die düstere Fülle, auf die der Blick starrt, zu reiner Form und sei eben darum hier am Platze.

Überschrift
"Thränen des Vaterlandes" – der Genitivus subiectivus legt nahe, dass es das "Vaterland" ist, das im Gedicht spricht, dass das Sonett ein Rollengedicht ist. In der 1663er "Trawrklage des verwüsteten Deutschlandes" erhebt unzweideutig das "verwüstete Deutschland" klagend seine Stimme. Jedoch unterschlägt die Vorstellung eines rhetorischen Rollen-Deutschlands die Wirkung, mit der das einsetzende "WIr" den Leser unmittelbar packt und einbezieht. Im Gedichttext, so Borgstedt, spricht nicht die "Personifikation" des "verwüsteten Deutschlandes" oder des "Vaterlandes", sondern ein reales kollektives "Wir". Letztlich ist Gryphius' "poetisches Sprechen <…> nicht eindeutig auf  lyrische Sprecherinstanz rückführbar".

Für Gryphius und seine zeitgenössischen Leser klang in "Thränen" das griechische Threnos, θρῆνος an, ursprünglich Bezeichnung für eine Totenklage. (Pseudo)etymologiserend schrieb Sigmund von Birken 1679, die "KLagLieder oder Threnien" seien "also benamet/ weil sie gleichsam mit Threnen geschrieben werden. Es wird damit der Untergang/ nicht allein großer Leute/ sondern auch der Städte und Länder/ beschrieben". "Thränen des Vaterlandes / Anno 1636" ist – unter anderem – von der späthumanistischen Threnos-Poetik bestimmt.

Erstes Quartett
WIr sind doch nunmehr gantz / ja mehr denn gantz verheeret!

"'Wir': der Dichter selbst steht mitten in dem großen gemeinsamen Schicksal." Das "Vaterland" kann Gryphius' Heimat Schlesien sein, doch ist wohl Deutschland gemeint. "Verheeret" nennt das Ausmaß der Zerstörung und zugleich die Ursache, die Kriegsheere. Mitten in dem schlichten, fast alltagssprachlichen Satz "WIr sind doch nunmehr gantz <…> verheeret" unterbricht sich der Sprecher, den Satz zum Alexandriner formend, mit einer Überbietung, die logisch unmöglich ist, "ja mehr denn gantz" – ein Rätsel, das Aufmerksamkeit erregen und auf die Lösung gespannt machen soll.

Es folgen in zwei Versen die Täter der "gantz<en>" Verheerung, die anonym bleibenden "frechen Völcker", und ihr Kriegsgerät. Die analog gebauten, parataktisch gereihten Nominalphrasen, die die Halbverse ausfüllen, beschleunigen den Sprechrhythmus:

::Der frechen Völcker Schaar / die rasende Posaun
Das vom Blutt fette Schwerdt / die donnernde Carthaun /
Hat aller Schweiß / und Fleiß / und Vorrath auffgezehret.

Die Epitheta frech, rasend, fett, donnernd erzeugen eine hohe rhetorische Lautstärke. "Schmucklos wuchtig werden 'Zentnerworte' gehäuft." Doch dann folgt ein längerer Satz, den ganzen Alexandriner einnehmend, Tempowechsel, eine Beruhigung. Der Singular "Hat", gegen die heutige Grammatikregel aber damals möglich für "haben", verknüpft jedes einzelne der Substantive der Verse 2 und 3, der "Völcker Schar", die "Posaun", das "Schwerdt", die "Carthaun", auf jedes einzelnen Schrecklichkeit insistierend, mit dem Prädikat "Hat <…> auffgezehret". Das Wüten der Kriegsgeräte hat alle materiellen Lebensgrundlagen vernichtet.

Zweites Quartett
Die zweite Strophe verstärkt den Klang der ersten noch. Nach der Nennung der Täter und ihrer Werkzeuge werden die Zerstörungen aufgezählt, wieder in schnell rhythmisierten, Halbverse füllenden, sich überstürzenden Nominalsätzen:

Die Türme stehn in Glutt / die Kirch ist umgekehret.
Das Rathauß ligt im Grauß / die Starcken sind zerhaun /
Die Jungfern sind geschänd't / und wo wir hin nur schaun
Ist Feuer / Pest / und Tod / der Hertz und Geist durchfähret.

Elend überall. Die "Türme" stehen für die wehrhafte Sicherheit, die "Kirch" für das geistliche Leben, das "Rathauß" für die weltliche Verwaltung, die "Starcken" für die militärische Wehrhaftigkeit, die Schändung der "Jungfern" für "die Vernichtung moralischer und persönlicher Integrität". In einer den Leser einbeziehenden Geste "wo wir hin nur schaun" wird der Blick dann in wieder verlangsamtem Rhythmus auf die Allgegenwart von "Feuer / Pest / und Tod" gelenkt, ihre nicht nur zer-, sondern nun auch "Hertz und Geist" durchfahrende, verstörende Wirkung. Zweimal also, im ersten und zweiten Quartett, "die Bildhäufung, die einer leidenschaftlichen Erregung der Seele entspricht, und zweimal dann das um die eigene Ohnmacht wissende, ruhig-traurige Abstandnehmen und Verallgemeinern".

Die Quartette sind durchsetzt mit Zeichen aus der Offenbarung des Johannes: "Posaun"  – in der Lutherbibel von 1545 "Vnd ich sahe sieben Engel / die da tratten fur Gott / vnd jnen wurden sieben Posaunen gegeben"; "Schwerdt"  – in der Lutherbibel von 1545 "Vnd es gieng er aus ein ander Pferd / das war rot / vnd dem der drauff sass / ward gegeben den Friede zunemen von der Erden / vnd das sie sich vnternander erwürgeten / Vnd jm ward ein gros Schwert gegeben"; "Feuer / Pest / und Tod"  – in der Lutherbibel von 1545 "Vnd sihe / vnd ich sahe ein falh Pferd / vnd der drauff sass / des name hies Tod / vnd die Helle folgete jm nach. Vnd jnen ward macht gegeben zu tödten / das vierde teil auff der Erden / mit dem Schwert vnd Hunger / vnd mit dem Tod / vnd durch die Thiere auff Erden". Die Wörter rufen das Bild der vier apokalyptische Reiter wach.

Erstes Terzett
"Wohin kann das Gedicht weiter führen?" fragt Trunz.

::Hir durch die Schantz und Stadt / rinnt allzeit frisches Blutt.
Dreymal sind schon sechs Jahr / als vnser Ströme Flutt /
Von Leichen fast verstopfft / sich langsam fort gedrungen.

Gryphius entwirft ein Bild, das man "grandios nennen müßte, wäre es nicht so furchtbar, von Dantescher Imagination: daß sogar die Flüsse von Leichen verstopft sind und deshalb nur noch langsam fließen". Selbst der Natur, dem Strömen der Flüsse, tut die Verheerung Gewalt an. Das Bild wirkt übertrieben und unwahrscheinlich, "keine beobachtete Wirklichkeit". In der Tat ist es ein Topos, der bis zur Ilias zurückreicht, in deren 21. Gesang der Flussgott Skamandros gegen den wütenden Achilleus klagt:

Voll sind mir von Toten bereits die schönen Gewässer;
Kaum auch kann ich annoch ins heilige Meer mich ergießen,
Eingeengt von Toten.

Jedoch warnt der zeitgenössische Prätext in Martin Opitz' "Trostgedichten in Widerwertigkeit deß Krieges" (siehe unten "Intertextualität") davor, dem Bild Realität abzusprechen, als sei es eine pure Metapher für kriegerisches Morden.

Die Wirklichkeitsnähe des Gedichts wird unabweisbar in der Zeitangabe "Dreymal sind schon sechs Jahr". "Anno 1636" ist es überschrieben. 1618 hatte der Krieg begonnen. Durch die Zerlegung der 18 in 6 + 6 + 6 wird die Wirkung gesteigert. Das "endlos Lange dieses Krieges kann nicht einfach mit einer Zahl abgetan sein; sechs Jahre trug man es, und dann noch einmal sechs Jahre, und dann noch einmal so lange – die Formel hat hier echtes Leben". Marian Szyrocki hat bei seiner Analyse der Zahlensymbolik in Gryphius' Werk auf eine – mögliche – verborgene Bedeutung der dreimaligen "6" hingewiesen. In der Offenbarung heißt es darüber nach der Lutherbibel von 1545: "VND ich sahe ein ander Thier auffsteigen von der Erden / vnd hatte zwey Hörner / gleich wie das Lamb / vnd redet wie der Drache. <…> Hie ist Weisheit. Wer verstand hat / der vberlege die zal des Thiers / denn es ist eines Menschen zal / Vnd seine zal ist sechs hundert vnd sechs vnd sechzig." Die "666" sei eine Teufelszahl. Sie "ergibt etwa die Sinndeutung: dieser Krieg ist das Werk der Hölle, das den Untergang nach sich ziehen wird. Die Akzentuation der langen Kriegsdauer findet eine weitere Verstärkung durch die Verbindung der Zeitbestimmung mit einem schauererregend realistischen Bild des Kriegsmordens: im Unglück dehnt sich nämlich die Zeit ins Unermeßliche."

Die Kriegsdauer von 18 Jahren weist zurück auf den Titel. Das Gemälde des Grauens erhält so seinen Rahmen.

Zweites Terzett
Irritierend, aber gerade dadurch Aufmerksamkeit erregend, beginnt das zweite Terzett mit einer Ankündung von Schweigen.

::Doch schweig ich noch von dem / was ärger als der Tod /
Was grimmer denn die Pest / und Glutt und Hungersnoth
Das auch der Seelen Schatz / so vielen abgezwungen.

Wovon schweigt das Sonett? "Es hat, wie Barockgedichte so oft, den Gipfel für den Schluß aufgespart." Es kommt hier auf das Rätsel des ersten Verses zurück, was denn "mehr denn gantz verheeret" sein könne, "grimmer denn die Pest / und Glutt und Hungersnoth". Die Komparative steigern die Spannung aufs Höchste. Die Antwort gibt der letzte Vers. "Den zwölf Zeilen der in höchstgesteigerten Bildfolgen <…> vorgestellten Kriegsauswirkungen steht eine einzelne Zeile, steht nur eine Metapher gegenüber", ein sursum corda, langsam, unaufgeregt: "Das auch der Seelen Schatz / so vielen abgezwungen." Aber um welchen "Seelen Schatz" handelt es sich? Den christlichen Glauben? Eine Konfession? Die Seele überhaupt? Das Gute im Menschen? Darüber schweigt das Gedicht in der Tat. "Der Satz 'Doch schweig ich…' besteht also zu Recht." Man hat von einer "intendierten Unbestimmtheit" gesprochen, einer deutungs-heischenden Pointe, einem Appell an den Leser zu mitwirkender Ergänzung.

Zu den Deutungsmöglichkeiten gehört, das Eschatologische der letzten Zeile zu hinterfragen. Sicher sagt sie, dass der Schaden, den die Menschen an ihrer Seele genommen haben, schwerer wiege als jede Art körperlichen Leidens; aber muss nicht das körperliche Leiden ganz unmetaphysisch ernst genommen werden? Nicola Kaminski hat auf die Lissaer Fassung des zweiten Terzetts hingewiesen. Ein Fenster auf die unmetaphysisch zeitgenössische Wirklichkeit des "verwüsteten Deutschlandes" öffne die "Trawrklage" dort:

::Ich schweige noch von dehm / was stärcker als der Todt /
(Du Straßburg weist es wol) der grimmen Hungersnoth /
Vnd daß der Seelen=Schatz gar vielen abgezwungen.

"Du Straßburg weist es wol" – was weiß Straßburg wohl, und was in Straßburg Geschehene konnte Gryphius als deutschlandweit bekannt voraussetzen? Kaminski vermutete, es könne sich im Lissaer Druck um einen Setzerfehler für "Augsburg" handeln: "Du Augsburg weist es wol". Im belagerten Augsburg herrschte 1635 eine Hungersnot von "mythischer Exemplarität". "Hund und Katzen <wurden> an statt eines Wildprets/ von den Armen aber auch Mäuse und andere unnatürliche Sachen gessen/ ja die Menschliche Leichnamb vielfältig angewendet". Der kaiserliche Gouverneur Otto Heinrich Fugger habe, heißt es weiter, "die zärtlichste Stadt in Deutschland zum Menschen-fleisch gebracht", so dass "itzt ein läbendiger den andern anfihl". Leichenschändung, Kannibalismus, so Kaminski, könne mit "stärcker als der Todt" gemeint sein.

Mario Zanucchi ist dagegen der Nachweis gelungen, dass die Straßburger Hungerkatastrophe, auf welche das Sonett anspielt, historisch belegt ist. In den Jahren 1636 und 1637 wütete in der Stadt eine Hungersnot, von welcher die inzwischen zerstörte Straßburger Stadtchronik von Johann Wencker berichtete. Gryphius  war über die zeitgenössische Straßburger Hungersnot bestens informiert, vermutlich über die Lektüre einer Danziger Zeitung, nämlich des "Berichts durch Pommern was newlichst vorgangen". Unter der Überschrift "Auß Straßburg/ vom 17. May" liest man 1636, also genau im Entstehungsjahr von Gryphius' Sonett, im "Bericht durch Pommern": "Die betrübte Zeit die wir anjetzo alhier erlebet haben/ ist zu erbarmen/ die Leute müssen Hungers sterben auff dem Lande/ denn sie haben nichts mehr zu essen/ das Viehe/ Roß/ Esel/ Katzen vnnd Hunde/ ist schon alles verzehret/ ja der Hunger ist so groß/ daß die Menschen sich einander fressen/ wie auch die verstorbene Todten Cörper/ etzliche Kinder haben sich auff dem Lande verlohren/ vnnd | sollen auß eines Mannes Hauß vier Kinder verlohren seyn/ vnnd müssen die Eltern sich befürchten/ daß sie getödtet vnd gefressen seyn. Die Tonne Korn gilt 20. Reichstaler/ das können die Armen nicht bezahlen/ der liebe Gott wolle es wenden."

Für den Druck von 1643 hat Gryphius das zweite Terzett stark umgeformt. Das antithetische "Doch" markiert jetzt in Vers 12 einen Neuansatz; die Herausnahme des Klammersatzes glättet den Rhythmus; die Komparativfolge "ärger" – "grimmer" bindet die Verse 12 und 13 zusammen; der letzte Vers, mit dem "Vnd" von 1637 Glied einer Aufzählung, wird erst durch die Neufassung "die Krönung des Vorhergesagten", pointierende Zuspitzung und sinngebende Wendung ins Geistliche. Inhaltlich wird durch die Herausnahme des Klammersatzes das "Fenster" auf die zeitgenössische Bestialität geschlossen. "Der Gedichttext stellt nun eine allgemeiner gefasste Aussage dar, die das Kriegsgeschehen insgesamt benennen kann."

Intertextualität

Die deutsche Übersetzung einer Passage aus den 1584 publizierten "De Constantia Libri Duo" des flämischen Philosophen Justus Lipsius erschien 1599. Lipsius schildert die Zustände in seiner Heimat während des spanisch-niederländischen Krieges und mahnt im Geist der jüngeren Stoa zu Mut und Standhaftigkeit angesichts der Zumutungen des Lebens. Die Zeilen könnten als Vorlage für Gryphius' Gedicht verstanden werden.

Weit direkter und detaillierter hat nach Günther Weydt Opitz' Versepos "Trostgedichte in Widerwertigkeit deß Krieges" in "Tränen des Vaterlandes" hineingewirkt. Opitz hatte das Werk 1621 verfasst. Er erwähnt es in seiner "Deutschen Poeterey" von 1624, veröffentlichte es aber erst 1633. Im ersten der vier Bücher mit insgesamt 2312 paargereimten Alexandrinern beschreibt Opitz den "Böhmischen Krieg" als Schickung Gottes. Im Zweiten bis Vierten Buch propagiert er wie Lipsius stoische Tugenden, ruft zur heroischen Variante der Beständigkeit in Form des Freiheitskampfes auf und relativiert die gegenwärtige Bedrängnis vor dem Hintergrund der Vergänglichkeit und des JüngstenGerichts. Am Anfang des Ersten Buches definiert er Thema und Zeit:

::::Erstes Buch Verse 1–4 und 49–56
DEs schweren Krieges Last / den Deutschland jetzt empfindet /
Vnd daß GOTT nicht vmbsonst so hefftig angezündet
Den Eyfer seiner Macht / auch wo in solcher Pein
Trost her zu holen ist / sol mein Getichte seyn.
<…>
Die grosse Sonne hat mit jhren schönen Pferden
Gemessen dreymal nun den weiten Kreiß der Erden /
Seit daß der strenge Mars in vnser Deutschland kam /
Vnd dieser schwere Krieg den ersten Anfang nahm.
Ich wil den harten Fall / den wir seither empfunden /
Vnd männiglich gefühlt (wiewol man frische Wunden
Nicht viel betasten sol) durch keinen blawen Dunst
Vnd Nebel vberziehn.

Opitz schrieb im Jahr 1621, dem Jahr, in dem die Sonne "dreymal" seit Kriegsbeginn "den weiten Kreiß der Erden" gemessen hatte. Gryphius' zeitliche Fixierung "Dreymal sind schon sechs Jahr" findet sich bei Opitz vorgebildet. Aus dessen Riesenepos mit philosophischen und theologischen Abschnitten hat Gryphius gewählt, was zu seinem Threnos, Klagegesang passte, und hat es in die 14 Zeilen seines Sonetts montiert. Ähnliche Einzelbilder, ähnliche Formulierungen, gleiche Reimwortpaare sind markante Spuren von Opitz im Sonett:

Erstes Buch Verse 77–80 und 85–88
Der Acker fraget nun nach keinem grossen hawen /
Mit Leichen zugesäet; er fragt nach keinem tawen /
Nach keinem düngen nicht: Was sonst der Regen thut /
Wird jetzt genung gethan durch feistes Menschen-Blut.
<…>
Ach! ach! da hört man jetzt die grawsamen Posaunen /
Den Donner vnd den Plitz der fewrigen Carthaunen /
Das wilde Feldgeschrey: wo vormals Laub vnd Graß
Das Land vmbkrönet hat / da ligt ein faules Aas.
Erstes Buch Verse 123–126 und 153–156
Dergleichen nie gehört: Wie manche schöne Stadt /
Die sonst das gantze Land durch Pracht gezieret hat /
Ist jetzund Asch vnd Staub? Die Mawren sind verheeret /
Die Kirchen hingelegt / die Häuser vmbgekehret.
<…>
Der Mann hat müssen sehn sein Ehebette schwächen /
Der Töchter Ehrenblüth in seinen Augen brechen,
Vnd sie / wann die Begier nicht weiter ist entbrandt /
Vnmenschlich vntergehn durch jhres Schänders Hand.

Vers 80 "durch feistes Menschen-Blut" lieferte das Material zu einem völlig neuen, in die Embleme vom Kriege sich einfügenden Bildmonument: das "vom Blutt feiste Schwerd" 1637, das "vom Blutt fette Schwerdt" 1643. Aus den "grawsamen Posaunen" wurde die "rasende Posaun". Der Opitzsche Vers 86 "Den Donner vnd den Plitz der fewrigen Carthaunen" wurde zum Halbvers "die donnernde Carthaun" kondensiert. Die Singularsetzung kündet von dem einen großen Morden. Die Opitzschen Reimwörte "verheeret" – "vmbgekehret" führte Gryphius erst 1643 ein und erweiterte sie zu "verheeret" – "auffgezehret" – "umgekehret" – "durchfähret", scheute sich also keineswegs, die Imitatio gegenüber 1637 noch zu verstärken. "Gryphius ist nicht nur mit dem Blick für treffende Bildelemente begabt, er konzentriert sie auch zu einem neuen, effektreichen Ganzen, das im Vergleich zu Opitz intensivere Leuchtkraft und Wirkung zeigt."

::::Drittes Buch Verse 132–134
Der Rhodan selber stund der sonst so strenge laufft:
Der Leichen grosse Zahl ist häuffig fürgeschossen /
Vnd hat jhn zugestopfft / so daß er nicht geflossen.

Gryphius hat, auf diese Verse zurückgreifend, aus "Von so viel Leichen schwer" 1637 das plastischere "Von Leichen fast verstopfft" 1663 gewonnen. Opitz' Vorsatz war, ohne "blawen Dunst Vnd Nebel", ohne Beschönigen und Verdecken über "den harten Fall" zu berichten (Erstes Buch Vers 53–56). Die Verse aus dem Dritten Buch, selbst schon der Tradition entnommen, bekräftigen die grausige Realität von Gryphius erstem Terzett.

Das Ganze
In der Forschung zu "Tränen des Vaterlandes" sind nach Borgstedt das patriotisch-kämpferische, das endzeitlich-apokalyptische und zugleich innerlich-autonome, das realistisch-wirklichkeitsbezogene, auch pazifistisch verstandene Moment, das allgemeinmenschliche Moment im Sinne der christlichen Tradition, das konfessionell-anklagende Moment oder das überzeitlich ästhetische Moment hervorgehoben worden.

Das endzeitlich-apokalyptische und zugleich innerlich-autonome Moment entwickelt (laut Borgfeldt) Trunz. Für Trunz "vereinigen sich in dem Gedicht eine gewaltige als Häufung gebrachte Bilderfülle des Kriegselends, die zwischen Realismus und Apokalyptik steht, mit einem von Schwermut überschatteten Hinweis auf die sittliche Freiheit des Menschen, die als einziges ihm im höchsten Elend bleibt, und eine straffe Sprache, die in immer neuen Wellen das Elend schildert, dazwischen und danach aber in langen ruhigen Sätzen Abstand und Überschau findet und in ihrer Zucht selbst eine Ordnung des Geistes gegen das Chaos der sinnlosen Gewalten stellt."

Nah und doch fern dieser Deutung steht die von Herbert Cysarz aus dem Jahr 1942. Nah, insofern Cysarz schreibt: "Wie apokalyptische Reiter beherrschen Feuer, Pest, Hunger und Tod das Feld." Fern bei Cysarz' weltkriegerischem Durchhaltepathos: "Tief und schwer geht der Atem des blutenden Deutschland." "Gleichsam metallisch die Grundfarbe des Gedichts: als ob sich alles im schwarzen Panzerkleid einer durch nichts zu brechenden Seele spiegelte. Auch aus den geschwellten Gleichnissen spricht eine eherne Wahrhaftigkeit des Gefühls; spricht das gefühllose Gefühl eines trutzigen Stehers, eisernen Besens einer eisernen Zeit, durch Traum und Tat, Verzückung und Grauen der Umwelt verbunden ohne die leiseste Schwankung des lauteren Mannescharakters."

Den Realismus und Wirklichkeitsbezug betont nach Trunz ("'Wir': der Dichter selbst steht mitten in dem großen gemeinsamen Schicksal.") Marian Szyrocki. Vom Eingangssatz an atme das Gedicht eine sonst in der Lyrik des 17. Jahrhunderts selten anzutreffende Wirklichkeitstreue. Für Nicola Kaminski ist Prätext der "Trawrklage" nicht die Johannesapokalypse, sondern der Horror des Krieges, wie ihn Opitz ohne "blawen Dunst Vnd Nebel" beschrieben habe. Das Opitzsche Epos katapultiere "wie ein intertextuelles Fanal" eine "Rezeptionsanweisung" in Gryphius' Gedicht.

Für Wolfram Mauser dagegen verfehlt man die Intention des Dichters, wenn man "vom Anfangswort 'wir' ableitet, daß 'der Dichter selbst <…> mitten in dem großen gemeinsamen Schicksal' stehe." Das Gedicht sei weit davon entfernt, das historische Ereignis in seiner Besonderheit festzuhalten. Was interessiere, sei der Krieg als Beispiel irdischer Geißel. Nicht ein Blick in die reale Welt steuere die Abfolge der Bilder, sondern die Vorstellung einer in Gefahr geratenen geistigen Ordnung. Um ihrer selbst willen seien die Bilder nicht mitteilenswert. Der Anspruch des Sonetts und seine Rechtfertigung liege im Bereich des Meditativen. Der Schrecken des Krieges sei ein Beispiel der Vanitas in allen Lebensbereichen. "Da aber Leiden und Tod untrennbar mit dem zeitlichen Dasein des Menschen verbunden sind, sind nicht sie das Ungeheuerliche. Die 'Threnen' als Zeichen überwältigenden Leidens beziehen sich über die reale Not hinaus auf die elementare Bedrängnis der Seele, die 'grimmer den die pest / vndt glutt vndt hungers noth' ist. <…> Aber auch das, was 'ärger als der todt' ist, kann der Mensch selbst im höchsten Unglück durch die Besinnnung auf das Kreuz Christi überwinden. Diese letzte Schlußfolgerung führt das Gedicht nicht mehr aus, aber für den Zeitgenossen liegt sie nahe und im Zusammenhang der Sonettsammlung ist sie durch die kompositorische Sonderstellung der Christus-Sonette gegeben."

Mit dem Abzwingen des Seelen Schatzes im letzten Vers sind nach Kaminski und Borgstedt am wahrscheinlichsten die Zwangsmaßnahmen zur Rekatholisierung Schlesiens im Jahr 1628 gemeint. Gryphius hatte damals als Zwölfjähriger mit seiner Familie, die lutherisch bleiben wollte, seinen Geburtsort Glogau verlassen und ins Exil gehen müssen.

Bei allen Interpretations-Differenzen darf nach Jürgen Landwehr gelten, dass die Füllung der Sonettform in "Tränen des Vaterlandes" durch und durch rhetorisch sei. Theodor Verweyen vergleicht die Struktur mit der 1704 veröffentlichten "Gründlichen Anleitung zur Teutschen accuraten Reim- und Dicht-Kunst" des Magnus Daniel Omeis. Christian von Zimmermann findet in dem Sonett die an den Schulen des 17. Jahrhunderts geübte rhetorische Argumentationsform der Chrie wieder mit einer protasis, in der das Thema gestellt, der paraphrasis sive explicatio, in der es näher erläutert, der amplificatio, in der es erweitert wird, und dem epilogus, der pointiert das eigentliche Ziel der Argumentation darbietet. Der erste Vers sei die protasis mit dem Thema "Verheerung". In den folgenden drei Versen werde näher bestimmt, was "Verheerung" meine, die deskriptiv-definierende paraphrasis sive explicatio. Dass in Vers 4 "aller Schweiß / und Fleiß / und Vorrath auffgezehret" ist, bedeute nicht nur eine Plünderung der Vorratskammern; vielmehr sei, wie das zweite Quartett aufzähle, alles zerstört, was der Fleiß errichtet habe, eine amplificatio. Mit Vers 8 "Feuer / Pest / und Tod / der Hertz und Geist durchfähret" werde die Bedrohung an Leib und Leben einbezogen. Die amplificatio erreiche im ersten Terzett mit dem Hinweis auf Blut, Leichen und die lange Kriegsdauer ihren Höhepunkt. Die Amplifikation diene der nachdrücklichen Betonung der Klage um den schwerer wiegenden Verlust des Seelenschatzes im epilogus. Gryphius überlagert "diese Basisstruktur mit der ansteigenden threnetischen Klage. <…> Daß abschließend eine erschreckend düstere Aussage steht, die dem Kriegsgeschehen apokalyptische Züge verleiht, hat eine einfache Erklärung. Gryphius folgt hier den Gegebenheiten der threnetischen Gattung, die gerade in der untröstlichen Klage besteht. Dadurch ist sie vom tröstenden Epicedium unterschieden."

Nach Marian Szyrocki hat Gryphius, der durch die verzweifelte Situation der Protestanten in seiner Heimat selbst betroffen war, seinen persönlichen Erfahrungen in dem Sonett Allgemeingültigkeit verliehen. Zwar benutzte er, rhetorisch geschult, überlieferte Bilder und Motive, "er verwendet sie aber in einer damals beispiellosen Dichte und erreicht damit eine Intensität der Aussage, die dem Sonett individuelles Gepräge verleiht".

Dichterische Rezeption im 20. Jahrhundert
Zu Gryphius' dreihundertstem Geburtstag 1916 erschienen zwei Auswahlbände. Der Schriftsteller Klabund (Alfred Henschke) erklärte ihn zum Pazifisten, der verfolgt worden sei, "weil seine Dichtungen geeignet waren, das Volk gegen den Krieg aufzureizen".

Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg, bemerkt Kurt Ihlenfeld, seien die "Tränen des Vaterlandes" "durch ganz Deutschland gegangen". Der Schauspieler Will Quadflieg rezitierte das Gedicht im Rahmen einer "Erbauungsstunde" in einem Kriegsgefangenenlager. Der expressionistische Dichter und zeitweise kommunistische Politiker Johannes R. Becher gab 1954 eine Anthologie "Tränen des Vaterlandes" heraus, die das Bild der frühneuzeitlichen Dichtung in der DDR prägte. Im Moskauer Exil hatte er 1937 ein Sonettpaar "Tränen des Vaterlandes. Anno 1937" geschrieben, das bekannteste Echo auf ein einzelnes Gryphius-Gedicht:

 Tränen des Vaterlandes. Anno 1937
I
O Deutschland! Sagt, was habt aus Deutschland ihr gemacht?!
Ein Deutschland stark und frei?! Ein Deutschland hoch in Ehren?!
Ein Deutschland, drin das Volk sein Hab und Gut kann mehren,
Auf aller Wohlergehn ist jedermann bedacht?!

Erinnerst Du Dich noch des Rufs: "Deutschland erwacht!"?
Als würden sie Dich bald mit Gaben reich bescheren,
So nahmen sie Dich ein, die heute Dich verheeren.
Geschlagen bist Du mehr denn je in einer Schlacht.

Dein Herz ist eingeschrumpft. Dein Denken ist mißraten.
Dein Wort ward Lug und Trug. Was ist noch wahr und echt?!
Was Lüge noch verdeckt, entblößt sich in den Taten:

Die Peitsche hebt zum Schlag ein irrer Folterknecht,
Der Henker wischt das Blut von seines Beiles Schneide –
O wieviel neues Leid zu all dem alten Leide!
II
Du mächtig deutscher Klang: Bachs Fugen und Kantaten!
Du zartes Himmelsblau, von Grünewald gemalt!
Du Hymne Hölderlins, die feierlich uns strahlt!
O Farbe, Klang und Wort: geschändet und verraten!

Gelang es euch noch nicht, auch die Natur zu morden?!
Ziehn Neckar und der Rhein noch immer ihren Lauf?
Du Spielplatz meiner Kindheit: wer spielt wohl heut darauf?
Schwarzwald und Bodensee, was ist aus euch geworden?

Das vierte Jahr bricht an. Um Deutschland zu beweinen,
Stehn uns der Tränen nicht genügend zu Gebot,
Da sich der Tränen Lauf in soviel Blut verliert.

Drum, Tränen, haltet still! Laßt uns den Haß vereinen,
Bis stark wir sind zu künden: "Zu Ende mit der Not!"
Dann: Farbe, Klang und Wort! Glänzt, dröhnt und jubiliert!

Im ersten Sonett werden den Versprechungen des Hitler-Regimes seine Verbrechen gegenübergestellt. Im zweiten wird dazu aufgerufen, statt Tränen zu vergießen, das Regime voll Hass zu bekämpfen, damit das Erbe Matthias Grünewalds, Johann Sebastian Bachs und Friedrich Hölderlins wieder "<g>länzt, dröhnt und jubiliert". Gryphius' Sonett wird "für die Identitätsstiftung des 'besseren', postfaschistischen Deutschlands beansprucht."

Literatur
 Achim Aurnhammer: Martin Opitz' Trost-Getichte: ein Gründungstext der deutschen Nationalliteratur aus dem Geist des Stoizismus. In: Barbara Neymeyr (Hrsg.): Stoizismus in der europäischen Philosophie, Literatur, Kunst und Politik: eine Kulturgeschichte von der Antike bis zur Moderne. Band 2. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2008, S. 711–729. Im Internet.
 Horst Bienek: Andreas Gryphius (1616–1664) Tränen des Vaterlands, Anno 1636. In: Rudolf Riedler (Hrsg.): Wem Zeit ist wie Ewigkeit: Dichter, Interpreten, Interpretationen. Piper Verlag, München/ Zürich 1987, ISBN 3-492-10701-X, S. 14–17.
 Thomas Borgstedt (Hrsg.): Andreas Gryphius. Gedichte. Reclam-Verlag, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-15-018561-2.
 Thomas Borgstedt: Andreas Gryphius' Thränen des Vaterlandes / Anno 1636. Epos-Imitatio und Kriegsklage im Sonett. In: Marie-Thérèse Mourey (Hrsg.): La Poésie d'Andreas Gryphius. Centre d'études germaniques interculturelles de Lorraine, Nancy 2012, S. 19–34. Im Internet.
 Thomas Borgstedt: Sonette. In: Nicola Kaminski, Robert Schütze (Hrsg.): Gryphius-Handbuch,. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-022943-1, S. 90–112.
 Eoin Bourke: Andreas Gryphius (1616–1664) Tränen des Vaterlandes / Anno 1636 (1663). In: Florian Krobb (Hrsg.): Poetry Project. Irish Germanists Interpret German Verse. Peter Lang, Oxford u. a. 2003, ISBN 3-906766-45-4, S. 17–22.
 Herbert Cysarz: Drei barocke Meister. In: Heinz Otto Burger (Hrsg.): Gedicht und Gedanke. Auslegungen deutscher Gedichte. Max Niemeyer Verlag, Halle (Saale) 1942, S. 72–78.
 Nicola Kaminski: EX BELLO ARS oder Ursprung der "Deutschen Poeterey". Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 3-8253-1564-9.
 Jürgen Landwehr: Ein poetisch inszenierter "Weltuntergang mit Zuschauer". Andreas Gryphius' Threnen des Vatterlandes / Anno 1636. In: Andreas Böhn u. a. (Hrsg.): Lyrik im historischen Kontext. Festschrift für Reiner Wild. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-8260-4062-7, S. 20–31.
 Dieter Martin: Rezeption im 20. Jahrhundert im Zeichen zweier Weltkriege. In: Nicola Kaminski, Robert Schütze (Hrsg.): Gryphius-Handbuch,. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-022943-1, S. 802–814.
 Wolfram Mauser: Dichtung, Religion und Gesellschaft im 17. Jahrhundert. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, München 1976, ISBN 3-7705-1191-3.
 George Schulz-Behrend (Hrsg.): Martin Opitz: Gesammelte Werke. Kritische Ausgabe. Band I: Die Werke von 1614 bis 1621. Anton Hiersemann Verlag, Stuttgart 1968.
 Marian Szyrocki: Der junge Gryphius. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1959.
 Marian Szyrocki (Hrsg.): Andreas Gryphius. Sonette. Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen 1963.
 Marian Szyrocki: Die Welt ist aus den Fugen. Interpretation von "Tränen des Vaterlandes". Frankfurter Anthologie Band 9, 1991, S. 20–21.
 Erich Trunz: Fünf Sonette des Andreas Gryphius. In: Fritz Martini (Hrsg.): Vom Geist der Dichtung. Gedächtnisschrift für Robert Petsch. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1949, S. 180–205.
 Erich Trunz: Andreas Gryphius. Tränen des Vaterlandes. Anno 1636. In: Benno von Wiese (Hrsg.): Die deutsche Lyrik. Form und Geschichte. Interpretationen vom Mittelalter bis zur Frühromantik. August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1957. (Eine leicht überarbeitete Fassung des Aufsatzes von 1949.)
 Theodor Verweyen: Thränen des Vaterlandes / Anno 1636 von Andreas Gryphius – Rhetorische Grundlagen, poetische Strukturen, Literarizität. In: Wolfgang Düsing (Hrsg.): Traditionen der Lyrik. Festschrift für Hans-Henrik Krummacher. Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen 1997, ISBN 3-484-10739-1, S. 31–45.
 Jörg Wesche: Zeitgenössische Rezeption im 17. Jahrhundert. In: Nicola Kaminski, Robert Schütze (Hrsg.): Gryphius-Handbuch,. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-022943-1, S. 767–778.
 Günther Weydt: Sonettkunst des Barock. Zum Problem der Umarbeitung bei Andreas Gryphius. In: Jahrbuch der deutschen Schiller-Gesellschaft. 9, 1965, S. 1–32.
 Christian von Zimmermann: Andreas Gryphius' "Threnen des Vatterlandes / Anno 1636" – Überlegungen zu den rhetorischen Grundlagen frühneuzeitlicher Dichtung. In: Daphnis. Band 28, Nr. 2, 1999, S. 227–244. doi:10.1163/18796583-90000663
 Mario Zanucchi: Andreas Gryphius' Sonette Trawrklage des verwuesteten Deutschlandes, Threnen des Vatterlandes/Anno 1636 und Johannes R. Bechers Doppelsonett Tränen des Vaterlandes Anno 1937. In: Fabian Lampart, Dieter Martin und Christoph Schmitt-Maaß (Hrsg.): Der Zweite Dreißigjährige Krieg. Deutungskämpfe in der Literatur der Moderne (= Klassische Moderne, 39). Ergon, Würzburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-95650-491-4, S. 185–200.

Einzelnachweise und Anmerkungen

Sonett
Literarisches Werk
Literatur des Barock
Literatur (Deutsch)
Literatur (17. Jahrhundert)
Werk von Andreas Gryphius
Stoffe und Motive (Neues Testament)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The crew is the best!
My sister actually chose this cruise. I was very impressed with the crew. Whatever you do to make your crew pleasant and helpful please keep it up. I was very impressed with the bar tenders as the Red Frog. Komang, was a great bar tender very nice with a super sense of humor. Keep up the good work!
The food was fabulous both at the buffet and at the restaurant. Guy burgers were absolutely addictive. The room Stuart's were great. The whole ship was kept clean at all times.
The entertainment was awesome. The cruise director Matt had such great energy that is infectious. He kept me laughing the whole week. The shows I saw were well done and very professional. This was my first cruise and if/when I do this again I will be sure to make it on carnival conquest.


It was expected that he was going to stay with Force India. He's also going to continue as a Mercedes Junior.
It's a shame Buemi isn't back in that other Toro Rosso seat instead of Kyvat who continues to confirm what a waste of time he is.
But what purpose would that serve? Buemi has been tested, and has not convinced both his own employers as well as other F1 teams who could have picked him up.
I am not sure if Buemi's talents have been properly recognised by RBR and others in F1 but anyway one purpose it could serve would be to properly benchmark Gasly which Kyvat won't do. He's shown what he can fully do in competitive cars in WEC and F-E.
I'm not sure I could disagree more with that idea. We know exactly what Kvyat can do in F1 right now, having seen him head-to-head with both Ricciardo and Sainz. It immediately gives them a very accurate gauge as to how he's doing. Put him alongside Buemi - a guy who hasn't even raced in F1 since 2011 - and even if Gasly performs better, all it does is show that he's able to outpace a guy who has been successful in FE and WEC. Which, while nice knowledge to have, isn't particularly relevant to how he's doing in F1.
Even if his performances haven't been great, Kvyat is a much, much better benchmark simply because he's been racing in F1 the last couple of years, something Buemi has not.
Fully agree and was going to reply in the same sense.
As for the relevance of FE (or even WEC): probably not more than GP3, where Kvyat was a rookie winner. Either way lots of drivers have proven themselves in lower ranking series, or WEC, or anywhere, and definitely not all have succeeded in F1 when given the chance.
Lastly: Buemi did get 3 years in F1, so he had a shot to show himself. If he had been perceived to be worthy of keeping in F1, then they would have kept him.
I won't disagree with the main points.
But with the BIB the RBR junior program was really ruthless at the time he was at TR. They had a lot of talent bubbling up through the ranks in both the FIA series and FR with a stagnant flow up to the top team. So they discarded a couple of drivers that most mid-field teams wouldn't have just to see what the others could do at the top level. So 3 years was the most you were going to get unless Red Bull needed a new driver.
The problem for these guys was that for the most part since they relied on being brought along by the RB Jr. program most didn't have any, or little, other backing so weren't attractive to other midfield teams when they got dumped.
I'm think that had Webber retired while Buemi as at TR he'd have gotten that seat and would probably still be there.
I think they would have gone With Alguersuari rather than Buemi. IMO neither were quite good enough for the big team.
Williams have reportedly shortlisted their driver options to partner Stroll next year down to 3 names: Kubica, Massa and Di Resta.
Only if Kubica can really last a race at full speed with only one fully functional arm/hand.
Well the teams can run 4 drivers per car per year, so what would they lose by signing him conditionally and keeping Di resta as a backup?
He does well, all good. He struggles, swap Di resta in for the next race.
...would be the best solution. If you're going to drop Massa then you may as well sign Kubica and hope it works out, and if it doesn't the chances are di Resta has stayed on as a reserve driver and can be dropped in if needed.
Apparently the Palmers helicopter was at Williams HQ last week?
And with Hulk it wasn't like the pace gap was very big either. Di Resta was a good driver. IMO he was better than Massa is now although as Massa has no real benchmark it's impossible to judge for sure.
This sounds harsh but I do get frustrated that year after year Massa and Kimi get re signed while more interesting drivers can't get a break. Teams are so cautious now with their driver choices. We had few team moves this season and will get even fewer next.
It's been pretty much OK, no? The past three seasons we've seen an influx of young talent - Verstappen, Sainz, Ocon, Vandoorne, Wehrlein, Stroll, Palmer: all junior champions that reached F1 through good results in the feeder series.
So that's looking at about a 30% turnover in 3 seasons. And next year Leclerc will almost certainly join the grid, probably Gasly as well and maybe Giovinazzi.
I think we couldn't really ask for more. Frijns will probably always be The One That Got Away, but for the rest I think those who really deserved it have been getting their break.
Yeah you're probably right in away. Possibly just the driver's I would like to see more of dropping out. For example Wehrlein won't be on the grid next year. I think he has way more to offer than another season of Raikkonen or Massa.
I think so too, but the reasoning of those teams is probably along the lines of no star driver available, and Wehrlein not seen as one that will turn into one, so they keep Raikkonen and Massa around until they get someone who they suspect will really amount to something.
Anyone but Massa please, such a waste of a seat. He's had his time, had a crack at the Championship and spent far longer in a Ferrari than his talent really deserved. Let's given Di Resta or Kubica another shot. Even Palmer would be better IMO.
I was with you until that part, but Palmer has been the biggest failure of modern F1. I don't think we've seen a driver so consistently off his teammate's pace since at least 2014, when Ericsson was shockingly bad for the early part of the year, and probably even longer ago. Palmer has had his chance to prove he belonged in F1, and he's failed.
I agree with you on Massa, however. It's been a while since we've seen any sort of spark from him, and I don't believe he's produced anything that could be classed as an impressive performance since at least 2014. I'd like to see Kubica get another chance; I was never very impressed with di Resta.
Palmer is a long way off Hulk granted but he does have a few things going for him.
1 - He seemed to be matching KMags performance after a poor start to last season, showing he does improve with time.
3 - He did win GP2 after several seasons of trying. Obviously winning it after a year or two is more impressive but again, he did show improvement.
4 - Ericsson now seems to be matching the highly rated Wehrlein, at least on single lap pace.
If it was my choice I'd get Kobayashi back in F1 but sadly it isn't. Palmer is at least a GP2 champion. Id have him on par with drivers like Piquet Jr., Sutil and Maldonado and better than a fair few recent drivers. He's hardly Karthikeyan, Yamamoto or Friesacher.
Sutil and Maldanado put in way more competetive performances than Palmer. Sutil in particular. A few of the FI's he drove were about as competetive as Palmer's and he was a regular points scorer. The Piquet comparison is probably fair.
Rumours going that Gasly would drive this weekend instead of Kvyat, in order to evaluate him for a 2018 seat. He would race both in Malaysia and in Japan, but then go back to contest the Super Formula finale in which he's very much in the title race.
I wonder what they want to evaluate? I mean... If he does badly then what? Who else are they going to bring in?
It's official, Gasly is in, Kvyat is out...for Malaysia at least. Tost claims at least for the "next races" and the team's statement says for the next "Grands Prix".
For the next Grands Prix, Pierre Gasly will be driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso, standing in for Daniil Kvyat, alongside Carlos Sainz. Gasly, one of the Red Bull Junior Programme drivers, has been racing in Japan this year in the Super Formula category. The 2016 GP2 Champion finished second in last Sunday's race, having won the two previous rounds. The 21 year old will therefore get his chance to prove himself in F1. This is not a case of goodbye for our Daniil, as he still remains part of the Red Bull Family.
"Scuderia Toro Rosso was established by Red Bull to bring youngsters from its Junior Programme into Formula 1 and that's what we are doing by giving Pierre this chance. He is the next in line at Red Bull for this opportunity and he has shown that he deserves it, having taken the 2016 GP2 title and this year being very competitive in the Super Formula series in Japan. He really has a valid chance of winning the title, as he is only half a point behind the leader. The driver switch gives us an opportunity to make a more informed decision regarding our 2018 driver choices. For a variety of reasons, some of them due to technical problems, but others being mistakes of his own making, Daniil Kvyat has not really shown his true potential so far this year, which is why we are standing him down for the next races. This will give us the opportunity to evaluate Pierre on track during a proper race weekend."
Last edited by TheBlackFlag on Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
How is this not a case of goodbye for our Daniil?
Maybe they want a direct comparison on a level playing field with the Renault engine so they know where they are working from next year?
I feel bad for Daniil. He showed great speed and potential before his precipitous fall from the top team and now out. That being said, he hasn't performed and doesn't seem to be returning to his previous form.
Does anyone know if he comes with significant sponsorship dollars? I think that is the only way he gets another F1 ride.
It's official, Gasly is in, Kvyat is out...for Malaysia at least.
For longer... Some key plurals in there.
I still think he'll be at Toro Rosso next year simply because Red Bull have no other junior driver ready to step up, and of the two Honda junior drivers, only Matsushita could possibly end 2017 with enough Superlicense points to be able to compete in F1 next year. So unless a) he has an amazing finish to the F2 season, b) the FIA give him permission to race in F1 despite not having enough Superlicense points, or c) Red Bull bring someone else into their junior program and immediately give them the Toro Rosso seat, then really they don't have any option to replace Kvyat.
Agreed, put a fork in him, he's done.
At Toro Rosso at least, F1 altogether probably.
Unless he comes with buckets of Russian cash...does he have sponsor dollars he could take to another team?
Thing is... who would they pick? Aside from poaching Norris from McLaren, I can't see anyone in the junior series with enough points who would be that much better than Kvyat.
Worth remembering RBR are going to need an engine soon? Some sort of engine and driver deal maybe?


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For more information, or if you would like professional assistance, contact Childers Enterprises Inc. or a similar company.


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Global ports see shortage of containers and high freight rates, when will this end ?
Against the backdrop of the global raging COVID-19 pandemic, this year's global container shipping industry seems to be sitting on a magical "seesaw". On one side, there is a shortage of containers and high freight rates, and the other is port congestion. The two issues alternate across oceans and continents, torturing the fragile nerves of cargo owners.
However, although industry analysts sing the recovery of the operating industry, industry insiders are still cautious about the "boom" that occurred during the epidemic, especially after the middle of next year, the market supply and demand trend is still like a fog, and there are still larger ones. Uncertainty.
The problem of shortage of containers has attracted the attention of the Ministry of Commerce. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce pointed out that on the basis of the preliminary work, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to promote the increase of transportation capacity, support the acceleration of container return transportation, improve operation efficiency, support container manufacturers to expand production capacity, and increase market supervision. Strive to stabilize market prices and provide strong logistics support for the steady development of foreign trade.
The epidemic caused port failure
The problem of container shortages is happening alternately across the Pacific and the Atlantic this year.
According to Bloomberg data, in the first quarter of this year, European and American ports such as Hamburg in Germany, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Antwerp in Belgium, and Long Beach and Los Angeles in the United States have all fallen into a state of extreme shortage of containers. Waiting for quarantine. In the third quarter, the situation was reversed. The overseas epidemic was severe and the port was understaffed. According to statistics, the Port of Sydney, Australia had piled up at least 50,000 TEUs of containers to be processed. Many ports were charged with congestion charges. Hard to find" status.
Generally speaking, problems such as lack of containers and port congestion are routine problems in the industry, which are easy to appear during peak seasons, and are also related to port processing efficiency. However, the failure of port operations caused by the epidemic has undoubtedly extended the loading and unloading time of containers.
According to a reporter from the Securities Times, due to the need for epidemic prevention, the Port of Los Angeles has temporarily reduced the number of dockers and port personnel by about one third, and the loading and unloading of ships has been greatly affected. Due to the continuing effects of shortages of equipment and extended loading and unloading time in ports, a large number of imported containers are being backlogged in European and American ports, congestion at the terminals and poor container turnover, which hinders cargo transportation.
The global container shortage difference can be seen from the Container Availability Index (Container Availability Index) released by the container source traceability platform xChang: In July, the supply of 40-foot containers at the Port of Los Angeles was insufficient; by the end of September, the port's container availability index had increased by 4 times. Oversupply; since September, the available containers at Qingdao Port have begun to decline. By October, the available index for 40-foot containers has dropped by half, and 20-foot containers are also in short supply.
Strong Asian exports become an important driving force for recovery
Looking at the whole year, the geographical imbalance of the shortage of containers is more significant, which is directly related to the timing of the outbreak.
According to data provided by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in mid-March, the number of global container ship arrivals began to fall below the level of 2019 and did not start to recover until the third week of June. This timetable basically coincides with the World Health Organization's listing of the new crown pneumonia as a pandemic and the deteriorating epidemic in Europe and the United States. On the other hand, the number of container ship arrivals at Chinese ports has gradually recovered since June, which is also in line with China's The lock release time corresponds to that.
In terms of absolute volume comparison, most regions started to recover from the third quarter, but globally, the port container ship berthing volume in early August was still 3% lower than the same period last year, and North America and Europe were 16.3% lower respectively. And 13.2%. In contrast, the number of port calls in China (including Hong Kong) has exceeded the level of last year, an increase of 4.1%.
China's shipping import and export took the lead in the recovery. The fundamental factor is that the domestic epidemic prevention and control has achieved major results, and the production side has taken the lead in recovery, effectively making up for the global supply gap caused by the impact of the epidemic, and also supporting the continuous growth of exports.
China Customs statistics show that in the first and second quarters of this year, China's import and export growth rates were -6.5% and -0.2%, respectively. The third quarter was reversed, with a year-on-year growth of 7.5%. The total import and export volume reached 8.88 trillion yuan. Stable, the cumulative growth rate turns negative to positive. It is worth noting that due to the changes in lifestyles caused by the epidemic, the export of notebook computers and home appliances has increased; the export of epidemic prevention materials has also risen rapidly. The export of textiles including masks reached 828.78 billion yuan, an increase of 37.5%; medical materials and medicines, The export of medical instruments and equipment increased by 21.8% and 48.2% respectively.
According to information provided by UNCTAD to a reporter from the Securities Times, although China was the first country to be affected by the epidemic, in the first quarter, China's overseas trade, transportation and exports were not interrupted, so China's port transportation remained smooth and undamaged; It was in the second quarter that due to the continuous escalation of blockades by various countries, economic activities were restricted, and the transportation of logistics personnel was blocked, resulting in a sharp decline in imports from various countries. At this time, the impact on port operations has increased significantly. Subsequently, the epidemic situation in Europe and the United States became more and more serious, and the key figures of the centralized transportation industry also bottomed out in the middle of the year. At the end of May, the World Ports Association pointed out that the number of container ships calling at about 45% worldwide dropped by 5% to 25%, and most of the cancelled ships came from the Far East route.
According to data from Alphaliner, an international shipping consulting and analysis agency, the new crown pneumonia epidemic in the first half of the year has reduced the chartering revenue of large container ships by half. Starting in the third quarter, global shipping capacity has recovered, a year-on-year increase of 2.8%, reaching 123 million TEUs, strong exports from Asia Become an important driving force for recovery.
In terms of the capital market, the share prices of listed companies in the A-share centralized transportation industry have also started in June, and have risen significantly in the third quarter. The performance of related listed companies such as CIMC and COSCO Shipping Holdings also increased significantly in the third quarter.
Strong increase in container demand
Returning to the shipping industry itself, many shipping companies around the world took the initiative to suspend shipping under the influence of the epidemic in the first half of this year.
As the world's top five airlines, Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, pointed out at the third-quarter performance briefing that in April this year, demand suddenly dropped by 20% and lost 200 million U.S. dollars per month, so it must be suspended to reduce 60% of the cost. He pointed out: "The market at this stage is driven by demand, not by inventory replenishment. The entire market is trying to get empty containers back to where they are needed."
In terms of container freight rates, the Shanghai Export Container Freight Index (SCFI) and China Export Container Freight Index (CCFI) released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange have set new highs. On November 27, CCFI quoted 1198.72 points, an increase of 4.6% over the previous week; SCFI quoted 2048.27 points, an increase of 109.95 points over the previous week. Under the strong demand, the price of offshore export containers also rose sharply. On November 27, the export container price of Southeast Asia routes was quoted at 995.67 points, an increase of nearly 20% over the previous week.
According to China Securities Investment Corporation's analysis, the supply side has not launched large-scale capacity at this stage, while the demand side has continued to grow rapidly, which will become the fundamental reason for the increase in freight rates in the transportation industry. Although the epidemic has led to pessimistic global economic expectations, in fact, the European and American manufacturing PMI index is still in the expansion range driven by policy, which provides economic fundamental support for the increase in freight rates.
However, someone from a shipping company pointed out to a reporter from the Securities Times that in the last 10 to 12 years, the shipping industry has not made any money, or even the cost of capital; long-term low-price competition is difficult to promote the healthy development of the industry.
So, can the epidemic promote the long-term recovery of the industry? Most people in the industry are cautious about this.
Rolf Habben Jansen pointed out that the current market is very, very strong, "but it is illogical to think that this situation will continue in the next few years." He expects that the situation will change in the next three or four quarters, and the company needs to be prepared to act quickly.
Container shipping companies and leasing companies also told reporters that the outlook is difficult to predict. Although the strong demand for containers is expected to continue into the first quarter of next year, there is still greater uncertainty in the market supply and demand trends after the middle of next year. If European and American countries are still under lockdown or vaccine research and development and promotion fall short of expectations, and the macro economy falls into a sustained recession, the good growth momentum of the container transportation industry may not be able to maintain.
This article was taken from the Securities Times Netw

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Rosetta and the Comet
17 August 2014 6 March 2015 / raminskibba
The title sounds like I'll tell you a fable or short story or something. This is neither of those things, but it is quite a story! I'm not personally involved in the Rosetta mission, though I'll do my best to tell you about it and what's unique and exciting about this. (For you fellow astrophysicists reading this, if I've missed or misstated anything, please let me know.) And if you'd like more information and updates, I recommend looking at Emily Lakdawalla's blog posts on ESA and Phil Plait's blog on Slate. If you're interested in the history and importance of comets (and about how "we're made of starstuff"), check out Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan's book, Comet.
Rosetta, the €1.3 billion flagship space probe (see below) of the European Space Agency (NASA's European counterpart) has chosen to accept an ambitious mission: to chase down, intercept, and orbit a distant comet, and then send the lander Philae to "harpoon" itself to the surface and engage in a detailed analysis. Rosetta is obviously named after the Rosetta Stone in Egyptian history, and Philae is named after an island in the Nile. Rosetta and Philae are hip spacecraft: they even have their own Twitter accounts—@ESA_Rosetta and @Philae2014, respectively. They should be careful when examining the comet below its surface, because if it's anything like Star Trek, they could find an ancient alien archive in the center! (Fans of the "Masks" episode will know what I'm talking about.)
Comets are literally pretty cool. They're clumps of ice, dust, and organic materials with tails that are hurtling through space. What is this comet Rosetta's pursuing? It's known as Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, named after a pair of Ukrainian astronomers who discovered it in 1969. 67P/C-G looks like a mere blob from a distance, but it's 4km in diameter and lopsided with two barely-attached lobes that make it look like a rubber duck from certain angles. "It may be an object we call a contact binary which was created when two smaller comets merged after a low-velocity collision," said mission scientist Matt Taylor, or it may have once been a spherical object that lost much of its volatile material after encounters with the sun. It also has plumes of dust and gas (from sublimated ices) erupting from the surface, which has a temperature of about -70 C. (The montage of images below are courtesy of ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM/Emily Lakdawalla.)
Comets tell us about our past, since they're thought to have formed in the cold of the outer solar system 4.6 billion years ago. They also yield information about the formation of the solar system and about the role of comets in delivering water and organic material to Earth in its history—possibly influencing the origin of life here. Cometary impacts are known to have been much more common in the early solar system than today. There may be billions of these dirty snowballs (or icy dustballs) orbiting the sun, and thousands of them have been observed. Prior to Rosetta, three comets have been analyzed by space probes: Halley's comet by ESA's Giotto in 1986, Comet Wild 2 by NASA's Stardust in 2004, and Comet Tempel 1 by NASA's Deep Impact, which slammed into it in 2005. The diagram below (courtesy of ESA/Science journal) shows the orbits of Rosetta and 67P/C-G. The comet has been traveling at speeds up to 135,000 km/hr, and Rosetta had to use flybys of the Earth and Mars to maneuver onto the same orbital path. Rosetta will be the first mission ever to orbit and land on a comet, so this is really an historic moment in space exploration.
On 11 November, Rosetta will be in a position to eject the Philae lander from only a couple kilometers away. Philae is 100 kg, box shaped with three legs and numerous instruments for experiments (see below), and was provided by the German Aerospace Research Institute (DLR). NASA scientists talk of the "7 minutes of terror" as the Curiosity rover descended to Mars, but Philae's descent will take hours. Note that 67P is so small and gravity is so weak that the lander would likely bounce off, which is why it needs the harpoons as well as screws on the legs to bolt it to the surface. If the landing is successful—let's cross our fingers that it is—it will perform many interesting experiments with its instruments. For example, CONSERT will use radio waves to construct a 3D model of the nucleus, Ptolemy will measure the abundance of water and heavy water, and COSAC will look for long-chain organic molecules and amino acids. COSAC will also detect the chirality of the molecules and maybe determine whether amino acids are always left-handed like the ones on Earth. ("Chirality" means "handedness". I think the only other time I heard the term was for the spin statistics of spiral galaxies.)
Let's hope for Rosetta's and Philae's success! I'll update you on this blog when I hear more information.
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5 thoughts on "Rosetta and the Comet"
Check out ESA's official blog on Rosetta, where you'll find daily images and other updates from the mission and its science. (Thanks to Claudia Mignone for suggesting this.)
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/
fotoeins
The word "chirality" throws me back to my senior course on particle physics. So many particles, so many hands (well, two of them, anyway) …
Update: Rosetta mission scientists have selected a primary landing site for the Philae lander. It's a spot on the "head" of the comet (if you thinking of it as a giant rubber duck).
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/15/comet-landing-site-rosetta-philae-67p-churyumov-gerasimenko
This is really exciting! If the Rosetta/Philae comet landing is successful, it will be an incredible feat and a boon to scientific research. You can watch the live webcast here: http://new.livestream.com/ESA/cometlanding
Pingback: Comet Update! Rosetta's Philae landed, but not as planned | Science Political
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Having discussed what our various organisations did we then started by talking about the wonderfully diverse range of customers that we have at ELM and that most were retired. Some are not and some maybe wish that they weren't whilst others are absolutely delighted with their freedom from the workplace.
The conversation then moved on to how the Team at ELM like to be able to share with our customers when we identify opportunities and services which could improve the life of those in and approaching retirement.
Kasia gave some amazing examples of the non-financial questions that they ask people during The Retirement Coaching Programme which have certainly got some of us here in the office thinking!
Having enjoyed this discussion and seen how effective it can be, I wanted to make all of our customers aware of the company Money Plan-it. More especially I focussed on the Retirement Coaching Programme that they offer, both for retirees and also for children and friends who may be thinking about retirement.
Naturally I am aware that there may be services like this available and offered by other organisations.


"Premios Macael" celebrated the 30th award ceremony this year in honor of the eponymous Spanish marble. The award, "has established itself as one of the most important events in the natural stone sector at national and international level" according to AEMA-President Antonio Sánchez Tapia at the award ceremony. AEMA is the Andalusian umbrella association representing entrepreneurs of the branch in the region.
Antonio Sánchez Tapia concentrated on two focal points of the award: the aim is to expound and prove quality of the material and productivity of the branch in general. At the same time, the effect locally is to underscore the importance of marble quarrying and production for the economy.
The prize is split into various categories not all of which directly involve implementation of natural stone. A detailed description can be accessed online in the Trade Magazine "el marmól" in English and Spanish.