{"id":1568,"date":"2015-10-16T00:00:56","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T04:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1568"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:49:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:49:13","slug":"w-h-auden-refugee-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2015\/10\/16\/w-h-auden-refugee-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"W H Auden – “Refugee Blues”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday, October 16 \u2014 \u201cSo Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, left that night for Egypt . . .\u201d Matthew 2: 14<\/strong><\/p>\n

While driving around my neighborhood yesterday, I heard on NPR a set of stories hard to listen to; refugee stories. \u00a0Does it matter whether the stories arose in Mexico, as these did? or Syria? or Congo? \u00a0 Does it matter that W H Auden\u2019s\u00a0\u201cRefugee Blues\u201d was written 70 years ago about European Jews? Women and men and children who must learn to live without toilets, live without a stove? \u00a0They live stories that need listening. \u00a0 Yesterday afternoon NPR helped me pay attention. \u00a0So, this morning, does W H Auden.\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes, it is a blessing to be still inside beauty; sometimes, to be still inside of violence.<\/p>\n

Definition<\/strong>: \u00a0\u201cBlues: a slow, sad son, traditionally with 3-line stanzas with 4 beats to each line.”<\/p>\n

Blessings on your weekend.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post – \u201cRefugee Blues\u201d W H Auden.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Say this city has ten million souls,
\nSome are living in mansions, some are living in holes:
\nYet there’s no place for us, my dear, yet there’s no place for us.<\/p>\n

Once we had a country and we thought it fair,
\nLook in the atlas and you’ll find it there:
\nWe cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.<\/p>\n

In the village churchyard there grows an old yew,
\nEvery spring it blossoms anew;
\nOld passports can’t do that, my dear, old passports can’t do that.<\/p>\n

The consul banged the table and said:
\n‘If you’ve got no passport, you’re officially dead’;
\nBut we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive.<\/p>\n

Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;
\nAsked me politely to return next year:
\nBut where shall we go today, my dear, but where shall we go today?<\/p>\n

Came to a public meeting; the speaker got up and said:
\n‘If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread’;
\nHe was talking of you and me, my dear, he was talking of you and me.<\/p>\n

Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky;
\nIt was Hitler over Europe, saying: ‘They must die’;
\nWe were in his mind, my dear, we were in his mind.<\/p>\n

Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin,
\nSaw a door opened and a cat let in:
\nBut they weren’t German Jews, my dear, but they weren’t German Jews.<\/p>\n

Went down the harbour and stood upon the quay,
\nSaw the fish swimming as if they were free:
\nOnly ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away.<\/p>\n

Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees;
\nThey had no politicians and sang at their ease:
\nThey weren’t the human race, my dear, they weren’t the human race.<\/p>\n

Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors,
\nA thousand windows and a thousand doors;
\nNot one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours.<\/p>\n

Stood on a great plain in the falling snow;
\nTen thousand soldiers marched to and fro:
\nLooking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Auden\"<\/a><\/p>\n

w h auden 1907 – 1973<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, October 16 \u2014 \u201cSo Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, left that night for Egypt . . .\u201d Matthew 2: 14 While driving around my neighborhood yesterday, I heard on NPR a set … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1570,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568\/revisions\/1570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}