Where are Poets wandering who
Speak divinely at Feasts, while they
Slay children in the prime of Youth?²
As though there’s no Tongue among
Them, so Silent are they in Obedience³
The Apathy of the people is enough to
Make every Statue Leap from its pedestal,
And to hasten the Resurrection of the Dead⁴
No judgements can be made of Motives in cases
Of World-Historical Significance – only of Actions⁵
How many times can someone turn their head and
Pretend they just Don’t See? … How many Ears
Must one have before they can hear people Cry?⁶
The ultimate Tragedy is not the Brutality of the
Bad people but the Silence of the Good people⁷
The hands of none are clean – if we Bend not
Our energies to Righting these great Wrongs⁸
The Best lack all Conviction – while the
Worst are full of Passionate Intensity⁹
The world is Dangerous not because
Of those who do Evil – but because
Of those who Look and do Nothing¹⁰
¹ Philip Whalen, For C.
² C.P. Cavafy tr. Rae Dalven, Infidelity
³ Homer tr. Samuel Butler, The Iliad
⁴ William Lloyd Garrison, To the People
⁵ Rosa Luxembourg, Letter to Paul Levi
⁶ Bob Dylan, Blowin’ in the Wind
⁷ Martin Luther King Jr., Why We Can’t Wait
⁸ W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folks
⁹ William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming
¹⁰ Albert Einstein