Sunday, May 21, 2023

Their Lonely Betters by WH Auden

Their Lonely Betters

As I listened from a beach-chair in the shade 

To all the noises that my garden made, 

It seemed to me only proper that words 

Should be withheld from vegetables and birds.


A robin with no Christian name ran through 

The Robin-Anthem which was all it knew, 

And rustling flowers for some third party 

To say which pairs, if any, should get waited mated.


No one of them was capable of lying,

 There was not one which knew that it was dying 

Or could have with a rhythm or a rhyme 

Assumed responsibility for time.


Let them leave language to their lonely betters 

Who count some days and long for certain letters; 

We, too, make noises when we laugh or weep:

 Words are for those with promises to keep.

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