Since today is WH Auden's birthday, I feel duty-bound to post a poem of his, occupying as he does, such a high ranking in the canon of contemporary poetry.
In this poem, 'The More Loving One', there is Auden's characteristic wise and authoritative voice and his high moral reckoning: to do what is right, to love, even if you're not loved in return, and to love this universe, even though it may not seem so loving.
The More Loving One - WH Auden
Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.
How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.
Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.
Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.
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