All I have is a Voice
To undo the folded lie
The romantic lie-in-the-brain
Of the sensual man-on-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the Police
We must love one another or die.
W.H. Auden, "September 1939
Auden ranks high on my list of poets, and not only because he loves Tolkien and lived in New York. With keen and penetrating turns of phrase, he has a rare talent for charting and navigating the subtleties of everyday emotion.
