A Small Eternity

“No metaphor, remember, can express / A real historical unhappiness.”

—W. H. Auden, “The Truest Poetry Is the Most Feigning”

The verb suicide is both transitive

and intransitive, and the act’s been called

“murder with mistaken identity.”

By that logic, murder’s suicide, too,

with the victims' identities confused.

Atavi are ancestors,* which estate

attained, this small eternity is ours

to survey—atavistic property!

Eyeless in Gaza, feigning innocently true,

raised on tales of former boys

who took command and did their duty, too,

our kids rehearse the bad old murderous way,

this time with drones and deadly new toys.

Ignorance rules, okay?

*Latin atavus, great-grandfather’s father.

Cover sculpture: Peter Dreyer, Dunce. Half barrel and ironwork.

Friday, June 13, 2025