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  On the day following the apparent

  election of the American strongman,

  the Chancellor of Germany replied

  to a questioner, that she would ex-

  pect to enjoy a merry co-operation

  with the United States, but only on

  the basis of democracy, freedom and

  respect for the law and the dignity

  of man, independent of origin, skin

  color, religion, gender, sexual or-

  ientation or political views.

  Anticipating our strongman's ascent

  next month, I'm glad not to have to

  spell the word, kindergarten, again.

  As we watch the hoary domicile of the

  Executive Branch being marked down in

  gold leaf, and spritzed with whatever

  glitz its tenant snaffled in halcyon

  years at Studio 54, to invigorate the

  spasms of his 140-character conscious-

  ness - all injections aside - we un-

  derstand that speculation on his con-

  duct is essentially medical, and not

  epistemological in the slightest.

  We look, then, to the afterlife of a

  forebear of his aspects, from temper-

  ament to inclination: to a four-acre

  memorial in the middle of the German

  Chancellor's capital city, to circum-

  stances we have always understood to

  have been, foreseeable. As the arch-

  itect says, You pray for accidental

  results. But in monuments this suc-

  cessful, as in Maya Lin's gash in 

  the ground off Constitution Avenue, 

  you believe they can happen.

  The American strongman may posture,

  all he likes, as a swaggering Joshua

  of the West Bank, because he never

  will understand why the world, with

  this nation's indispensable blessing,

  conceded lands previously disputed to 

  a people subjected to one strong man,

  one exceptional nation too many. Now,

  we have an ostensible ally disporting

  itself in mockery of its own proven-

  ance, at the expense of any peace. But 

  humanity is its own egalitarian champi-

  on, and we must be prepared for it to 

  prevail. May we acknowledge our place 

  in that Party; may we precipitate a 

  sweeping palisade, of vital accidents.

  

Joonas Parviainen

ii    Slovenia, 2013

iii   Berlin, 2014

      

Franz Schubert

An die musik, D. 547
1817
Ian Bostridge, tenor
Julius Drake, piano
EMI, 2005©