Epitaph On A Tyrant
W. H. Auden

Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.


The above was quoted in this address by Julian Burnside to the Music Council of Australia annual conference on 27 September 2004. Worth reading.




Comments

chris said…
Jill, thanks for posting this one.

It makes me want to--well I should say--go out raise up voice and vote. But really, it's also to the emotive gut, literally, those most vulnerable and squeezed out of sensibilities of care in this world problematic, often are children, as here, where I live in a ghettoized part of town, and then in the larger sense of world: warring. these lines of Auden's make me want to do things like vote, work for more and also, hope.

Best,
chris
Jill Jones said…
Hi Chris,

Hoping is hardest. Don't get anywhere if y'don't. We've had a bad result here but now is the learning game.

Best, Jill

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