this has been a terrible week. first the presidential elections which have filled the body politic here in the uk, as well as in the usa, and possibly most of the rest of the world, with a sense of dread for the future. this morning we had the news that leonard cohen had died, and i just posted on my facebook ‘there are days when i don’t think i belong here any more’ so here’s this …(from… ) SEPTEMBER 1, 1939
i sit in one of the dives
on fifty-second street
uncertain and afraid
as the clever hopes expire
of a low dishonest decade:
waves of anger and fear
circulate over the bright
and darkened lands of the earth,
obsessing our private lives;
the unmentionable odour of death
offends the september night.
…
defenseless under the night
our world in stupor lies;
yet, dotted everywhere,
ironic points of light
flash out wherever the just
exchange their messages:
may i, composed like them
of eros and of dust,
beleaguered by the same
negation and despair,
show an affirming flame.
w.h. auden