{"id":237,"date":"2005-09-01T11:01:37","date_gmt":"2005-09-01T15:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=237"},"modified":"2005-09-01T11:01:37","modified_gmt":"2005-09-01T15:01:37","slug":"the-first-of-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=237","title":{"rendered":"the first of september"},"content":{"rendered":"

This poem cried out to be shared today, not only because of the date, but also because of the sentiment — generated by the devastation on the Gulf Coast and in Bagdad this week, by ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and by a culture at home that is oppressing freedom of speech, scientific exploration, and open-mindedness.<\/p>\n

It took several years from when Germany invaded Poland for there to be a response, but one did eventually come. May we not need to reach that point of desperation for change to come to us today. And may all our voices join together and our lights shine in the darkness to remind ourselves that we all seek peace and that we are not alone.<\/p>\n

September 1, 1939<\/strong>
\n ~ W.H. Auden<\/em><\/p>\n

I sit in one of the dives
\nOn Fifty-Second Street
\nUncertain and afraid
\nAs the clever hopes expire
\nOf a love dishonest decade:
\nWaves of anger and fear
\nCirculate over the bright
\nAnd darkened lands of the earth,
\nObsessing our private lives;
\nThe unmentionable odour of death
\nOffends the September night.<\/p>\n

Accurate scholarship can
\nUnearth the whole offence
\nFrom Luther until now
\nThat has driven a culture mad,
\nFind what occurred at Linz,
\nWhat huge imago made
\nA psychopathic god:
\nI and the public know
\nWhat all schoolchildren learn,
\nThose to whom evil is done
\nDo evil in return.<\/p>\n

Exiled Thucydides knew
\nAll that a speech can say
\nAbout Democracy,
\nAnd what dictators do,
\nThe elderly rubbish they talk
\nTo an apathetic grave;
\nAnalysed all in his book,
\nThe enlightenment driven away,
\nThe habit-forming pain,
\nMismanagement and grief:
\nWe must suffer them all again.<\/p>\n

Into this neutral air
\nWhere blind skyscrapers use
\nTheir full height to proclaim
\nThe strength of Collective Man,
\nEach language pours its vain
\nCompetitive excuse:
\nBut who can live for long
\nIn an euphoric dream;
\nOut of the mirror they stare,
\nImperialism’s face
\nAnd the international wrong.<\/p>\n

Faces along the bar
\nCling to their average day:
\nThe lights must never go out,
\nThe music must always play,
\nAll the conventions conspire
\nTo make this fort assume
\nThe furniture of home;
\nLest we should see where we are,
\nLost in a haunted wood,
\nChildren afraid of the night
\nWho have never been happy or good.<\/p>\n

The windiest militant trash
\nImportant Persons shout
\nIs not so crude as our wish:
\nWhat mad Nijinsky wrote
\nAbout Diaghilev
\nIs true of the normal heart;
\nFor the error bred in the bone
\nOf each woman and each man
\nCraves what it cannot have,
\nNot universal love
\nBut to be loved alone.<\/p>\n

From the conservative dark
\nInto the ethical life
\nThe dense commuters come,
\nRepeating their morning vow;
\n‘I will be true to the wife,
\nI’ll concentrate more on my work,’
\nAnd helpless governors wake
\nTo resume their compulsory game:
\nWho can release them now,
\nWho can reach the dead,
\nWho can speak for the dumb?<\/p>\n

All I have is a voice
\nTo undo the folded lie,
\nThe romantic lie in the brain
\nOf the sensual man-in-the-street
\nAnd the lie of Authority
\nWhose buildings grope the sky:
\nThere is no such thing as the State
\nAnd no one exists alone;
\nHunger allows no choice
\nTo the citizen or the police;
\nWe must love one another or die.<\/p>\n

Defenseless under the night
\nOur world in stupor lies;
\nYet, dotted everywhere,
\nIronic points of light
\nFlash out wherever the Just
\nExchange their messages:
\nMay I, composed like them
\nOf Eros and of dust,
\nBeleaguered by the same
\nNegation and despair,
\nShow an affirming flame.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This poem cried out to be shared today, not only because of the date, but also because of the sentiment — generated by the devastation on the Gulf Coast and in Bagdad this week, by ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and by a culture at home that is oppressing freedom of speech, scientific exploration, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts"],"yoast_head":"\nthe first of september - sprite writes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=237\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"the first of september - sprite writes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This poem cried out to be shared today, not only because of the date, but also because of the sentiment — generated by the devastation on the Gulf Coast and in Bagdad this week, by ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and by a culture at home that is oppressing freedom of speech, scientific exploration, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=237\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"sprite writes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-09-01T15:01:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"soe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"soe\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=237#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=237\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"soe\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2aa28906a6cfcf6a027e45ac700a834d\"},\"headline\":\"the first of september\",\"datePublished\":\"2005-09-01T15:01:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=237\"},\"wordCount\":592,\"articleSection\":[\"arts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=237\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=237\",\"name\":\"the first of september - 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