{"id":1941,"date":"2005-03-19T20:33:02","date_gmt":"2005-03-20T03:33:02","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2005-03-19T20:33:02","modified_gmt":"2005-03-20T03:33:02","slug":"stephen-schwartz-a-lyrical-biography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2005\/03\/19\/stephen-schwartz-a-lyrical-biography\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Schwartz — a lyrical biography"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editorial Note<\/b>: For those curious to know a few biographical details about Stephen Schwartz<\/a> (and see below<\/a>), here is a great little poem <\/a> that appeared on a Sufi discussion site around the time of the Kosovo war. All the links are inserted by myself<\/i>:<\/p>\n

WHO IS THIS PERSON?<\/p>\n

Who is this person, this man Stephen Schwartz<\/a>?
\na question that’s asked by all manner and sorts<\/p>\n

A trade union man who ne’er mastered a trade
\nOr a man of the sea<\/a>, who not one voyage made<\/p>\n

An agent of anarchy in a radical cell
\nMerely playing a role for a story to sell<\/p>\n

His passions confined to wars already lost
\nTo bleed for beliefs? far too high a cost<\/p>\n

With blood still being spilled for poor people’s fate
\nHe chose the Spanish revolt<\/a>, half-century too late<\/p>\n

All ongoing struggles and fighting and killing
\nWere sidestepped with care by this warrior unwilling<\/p>\n

Devoid of real courage and <\/a>anarchist zest
\nHe waged his revolt from the Cafe Trieste<\/a><\/p>\n

No explosions nor death, desert heat, jungle rains
\nJust Latte’s, Biscottis, and hemorroidal pains<\/p>\n

Comrade Sandalio <\/a> walked away from the causes
\nAn insurgent impotent, he obeyed all the lawses<\/p>\n

But a new calling leapt from deep in his soul
\nTo pen biographique for whom the bell tolls<\/p>\n

At the obituary desk<\/a> in the heart of the city
\nSteve’s secret life, just like Walter Mitty<\/p>\n

While cutting and pasting details of the dead
\nTo a war-ravaged land his fantasy led<\/p>\n

Overnight, so it seems, a New Cause did emerge
\nConvert to Islam<\/a>! An irrepressible urge!<\/p>\n

Cartoon-like<\/a> comb-over, ellipsoidal<\/a> bod
\nStrange creature<\/a> indeed, Suleyman ben Ahmad<\/p>\n

Fake revolutionary? No, no, not any more
\nNow a make-believe journalist<\/a>, bound for the war!<\/p>\n

And Steve’s new religion and peaceful dictate
\nCaused nary a pause in his spreading of hate<\/p>\n

We now see the dream of this red diaper boy<\/a>
\nTo preach war on TV<\/a> is his true pride and joy<\/p>\n

And no hawk so fierce, on the left or the right
\nAs one calling for War once he’s too old to fight<\/p>\n

But, balding and bitter, Schwartz did what he can
\nTo wage holy war<\/a> ‘gainst beloved Islam<\/p>\n

Stephen’s Black Book of Bad Men, those who plot and deceive
\nWas it scripted for Ahmad in old Tel Aviv?<\/p>\n

A self-proclaimed Sufi peddling Sharon’s agenda
\n<\/a>
\nHe tiptoes the high wire as if born a Wallenda<\/p>\n

He’s rejected your culture; he’s mocked it<\/a> for years
\nNow he calls for your sons to shed blood, sweat and tears<\/p>\n

Before waging a war from this charlatan’s teaching
\nLook up His Own History<\/a> and what he’s been preaching<\/p>\n

And there you will find amidst all of the rubble
\nA life of Great Causes…<\/p>\n

but none worth your trouble.<\/p>\n

————–
\nMustafa Fazool
\nCalifornia Big Wave Sufi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editorial Note: For those curious to know a few biographical details about Stephen Schwartz (and see below), here is a great little poem that appeared on a Sufi discussion site around the time of the Kosovo war. All the links are inserted by myself: WHO IS THIS PERSON? Who is this person, this man Stephen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[676],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-antiwar-movement"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1941\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1941"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}