The Soul's Desert

 

Coventry, after the Blitz

 

The Soul's Desert
August 30, 1939

 

They are warming up the old horrors; and all that they say is echoes of echoes.

Beware of taking sides; only watch.

These are not criminals, nor hucksters and little journalists, but the governments

Of great nations; men favorably

Representative of massed humanity. Observe them.

              Wrath and laughter

Are quite irrelevant. Clearly it is time

To become disillusioned, each person to enter his own soul's desert

And look for God - having seen man.

Robinson Jeffers 

fr. Be Angry at the Sun and Other Poems

 

Not knowing much about Jeffers other than that he seemed to see humanity in a rather negative light and preferred nature, or that his politics were controversial in their time, I take his poem for its words rather than its author. Is that correct or not? I don't know. All I can say is that he gives me his poem, not his person, and I trust he was deliberate in his choice of words.

The poem, then! Gosh, it's so clear to me that poetry is what we need these days, words that cut through the murk - that line, "They are warming up the old horrors" -  I see that happening right in front of my eyes. I just read a book about the early days of WW2, in which a Jewish child relates how the change in Germany began, "We were no longer allowed to go to cinemas and theatres and be members of clubs...we could no longer go to universities..." Interesting. They are warming up that "old horror" here in Canada right now. The "unvaccinated" as of the end of September (in British Columbia) will not be allowed in theatres or any ticketed events, restaurants, or fitness centres, and already the Universities Gelph, Toronto, Waterloo, and Carleton have prohibited attendance by any "unvaccinated" student or staff member. Then there's the U of P.E.I, Uof M, and Mount St. Vincent - all falling in line. 

 

The world has been divided in two, the clean and the unclean. 

 

 "Clearly it is time 

to become disillusioned, each person to enter his own soul's desert

And look for God - having seen man."

 

It can't be said better.