Schlagwort: Of The Empire

Of The Empire

We will be known as a cul­tu­re that feared death and ado­red power, that tried to van­quish inse­cu­ri­ty for the few and cared litt­le for the pen­ury of the many. We will be known as a cul­tu­re that taught and reward­ed the amas­sing of things, that spo­ke litt­le if at all about the qua­li­ty of life for peo­p­le (other peo­p­le), for dogs, for rivers. All the world, in our eyes, they will say, was a com­mo­di­ty. And they will say that this struc­tu­re was held tog­e­ther poli­ti­cal­ly, which it was, and they will say also that our poli­tics was no more than an appa­ra­tus to accom­mo­da­te the fee­lings of the heart, and that the heart, in tho­se days, was small, and hard, and full of mean­ness.

© 2008 by Mary Oli­ver
From her 2008 coll­ec­tion, Red Bird, p. 46
Published by Bea­con Press 2008