Achievement must now be weighed In a new scale, For the tasks of heroes Have become the accomplishments Of adolescents. Tomorrow also, those who dare insanely Shall be called By a smiling name. The ski-jumper and aviator Must perform For a heavy-eyed future. But if the dimensions of pain Grow in proportion To the extended perfection of the body, We shall be lost. For who then will remember The journey of Orpheus, Or consider Hell More than an evil hour? In that generation Loss shall not be accompanied by music, Nor the suffering of one Give the sensation Of many bereavements. |