22
PARTISAN REVIEW
Kind-hearted Christians of the permanence of Peace,
Increase of common-sense and civic virtue. Years which bade
Less placid conscientious souls indignantly arise
Upon ten thousand platforms to proclaim the system mad
And urge the liquidation of a senile ruling-class.
Years like a prison-wall, frustrating though unsound,
On which the brush of History, with quick, neurotic strokes,
Its latest and most awe-inspiring fresco soon outlined:
Spenglerian
lo~ering
of the Western skies, red lakes
Of civil bloodshed, free flags flagrantly torn down
By order of macabre puppet orators, the blind
Leading blindfolded followers into the Devil's den....
3.
And so, Good-bye, grim 'Thirties. These your closing days
Have shown a new light, motionless and far
And clear as ice, to our sore riddled eyes;
And we see certain truths now, which the fear
Aroused by earlier circumstances could but compromise,
Concerning all men's lives. Beyond despair
May we take wiser leave of you, knowing disasters cause.
Having left all false hopes behind, may we move on
At a vertiginous unmeasured speed, beyond, beyond,
Across this unknown Present's bleak and rocky plain;
Through sudden tunnels; in our ears the wind
Echoing unintelligible guns. Mirrored within
Each lonely consciousness, War's world seems without end.
Dumbly we stare up at strange skies with each day's dawn.
Could you but hear our final farewell call, how strained
And hollow it would sound! We are already far
Away, forever leaving further leagues behind
Of this most perilous and incoherent land
We're in. The unseen enemy are near.
Above the cowering capital Death's wings impend.
Rapidly under ink-black seas to-day's doomed di sappear.
