It is at times like these, when all else fails, that poetry alone can speak. The second stanza of Dylan Thomas's "And Death Shall Have No Dominion":
And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.
Our work is over the scribbled phrases the nights typing releases the
ReplyDeletesmell of the printshop the sharp reek of newprinted leaflets the rush
for Western Union stringing words into wires the search for stinging
words to make you feel who are your oppressors america.
America our nation has been beaten by strangers who have turned our
language inside out who have taken the clean words our fathers spoke
and made them slimy and foul.
all right we are two nations.
- John Dos Passos