The Right Side of History

 “ . . . standing on the right side of history is not a comfortable place to be. It never has been.”

—Wendy Davis

But how to know which side is right?

Is it enough merely to say:

That's so! conclude; then, if a wrong

offend grievously, indict

(Latin indictus = “having been

declared, promulgated, announced”

—by whom is just a dog's delight;

also "unspeakable, ineffable")

what prevaricating minds' must,

confronting, fight, ”in the final

analysis,” as wiseacres say

down Ballykillywuchlin way,*

a stance reluctant, sure—but free?

Within the liminal sphere of

poetry,** yes, Ezra, it must be.

I know that Wendy Davis is right

because her syntax speaks to me,

And if you don’t endorse her song,

most certainly, you've got it wrong.

Jesting Pilate, it's no joke,

right side up the family yoke!

Pavannes and Divagations 

Neath Ben Bulben's buttock lies

Bill Yeats, a poet twoice the soize

Of William Shakespear, as they say

Down Ballykillywuchlin way.*

Let saxon roiders break their bones

Huntin' the fox

thru dese gravestones.

—Ezra Pound, "Under Ben Bulben" (Pavannes and Divagations [1958])

Time, that with this strange excuse,

Pardons Kipling and his views,

And will pardon Paul Claudel,

Pardons him for writing well.**

—W. H. Auden, “In Memory of W. B. Yeats (1939)

Epigraph source: Wendy Davis, one of Epstein's accusers, quoted in “What are Trump, lawmakers, victims saying about the Jeffrey Epstein files,” Reuters, November 18, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/what-are-trump-lawmakers-victims-saying-about-jeffrey-epstein-files-2025-11-18/