Jeremiad
“How dark and hurt and deep the world.”
—Sebastian Barry, The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty
But how to help, to say nothing of being reconciled
to the fact of our present paralysis, the heroic desire for
purposeful life now strung on the clothesline, parked
in the garage, or misplaced, lost on that departing train.
The old empathies, bookmarks in our expansive
dreams, fired the paths of our youth—the heady
drive through the Alps, the spirited campfire disputes,
our promise of gracious service, echoing the strains
