L'allegorie du Pelican/ Of (pelican) filial abnegation

Lorsque le pélican, lassé d'un long voyage,
Dans les brouillards du soir retourne à ses roseaux....
When the pelican, weary of a long voyage,
In the fogs of the evening returns to his reeds...

Lorsque le pélican, lassé d'un long voyage, Dans les brouillards du soir retourne à ses roseaux, Ses petits affamés courent sur le rivage En le voyant au loin s'abattre sur les eaux. Déjà, croyant saisir et partager leur proie, Ils courent à leur père avec des cris de joie Lui, gagnant à pas lent une roche élevée, De son aile pendante abritant sa couvée, Pêcheur mélancolique, il regarde les cieux. Le sang coule à longs flots de sa poitrine ouverte; En vain il a des mers fouillé la profondeur; L'océan était vide et la plage déserte; Pour toute nourriture il apporte son cœur. Sombre et silencieux, étendu sur la pierre, Partageant à ses fils ses entrailles de père, Dans son amour sublime il berce sa douleur; Et, regardant couler sa sanglante mamelle, Sur son festin de mort il s'affaisse et chancelle[..]

When the pelican, weary of a long voyage, In the fogs of the evening returns to his reeds, his famished flock runs onto the shore As they see him from far coming down onto the sea. Already believing to seize and share their prey, They run towards their father with cries of joy. He, slowly steps to a high rock, Sheltering its flock with its broad hanging wings. Melancholic fisherman, he looks onto the skies. Long streams of blood running down his open chest; In vain he has searched the depth of the sea; The ocean was empty and the beach deserted; So as food for its flocks, he brings its own heart. Somber and silent, lying on the stone, offering to his sons his paternal entrails. In his sublime love he tries to rock his pain; And, looking at his bloody udder, On his feast of death, he staggers and falls [..]

"L' Allegorie du pelican" Musset La nuit de Mai. (et commentaire de texte)
Sometimes, there is just not enough pelicans.... ;)
Why posting the Pelican allegory ?
Because of this must-read article in the NY Times by Singer on wealth and the "value of life":
Excerpts:
"I could have quoted Warren Buffett’s acknowledgment that (the) society (he grew up in) is responsible for much of his wealth. “If you stick me down in the middle of Bangladesh or Peru,” he said, “you’ll find out how much this talent is going to produce in the wrong kind of soil.”" [...]
(About the philantropists' motive: )
"That suggests the view that those who have great wealth have a duty to use it for a larger purpose than their own interests. But while such questions of motive may be relevant to our assessment of Gates’s or Buffett’s character, they pale into insignificance when we consider the effect of what Gates and Buffett are doing. The parents whose children could die from rotavirus care more about getting the help that will save their children’s lives than about the motivations of those who make that possible."