Thomas Hardy, “Christmas: 1924"
'Peace upon earth!' was said. We sing it,
And pay a million priests to bring it.
After two thousand years of mass
We've got as far as poison-gas.
Further thoughts on the cultural labor of poetry and art. Not merely "is it good?," but "what has it accomplished?"...reviews of recent poetry collections; selected poems and art dealing with war/peace/social change; reviews of poetry readings; links to political commentary (particularly on conflicts in the Middle East); youtubed performances of music, demos, and other audio-video nuggets dealing with peaceful change, dissent and resistance.
3 comments:
Ah, this is a good one.
Do you think it was because of the priests?
Anny, good question. Hardy certainly felt the Church was culpable--and, arguably, it had acted as handmaiden to many a slaughter. That rhyme is just so scary: mass to poison gas.
Thanks for checking in.
why 1924? 1914 maybe but...
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