Favorite Poems
Throughout My Life
83: “Musée Des Beaux Arts,” 1938, by W. H.
Auden (1907–73)
I memorized
this when I taught
Some Auden
not so long ago.*
His images
are bright and taut,
And much
depends on what you know.
The Brueghel
painting shows the scene—
The tale of
Icarus is key
To knowing
what the lines can mean—
At least I
found this true for me.
What Auden
says is often true:
Much pain
and woe go on while we
Are focused
elsewhere—with no clue
Of suffering
humanity.
A boy falls
from the sky to sea—
But we are
elsewhere occupied
And fail to
notice tragedy—
That lad who
fell, who wildly cried.
*Western
Reserve Academy, 2001–11
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