"Above it all"
What has politics to do with me?
Let those old fogeys worry about it,
Said the artist (a homosexual, a Jew)
in 1932 Deutschland
Yes (reasoned the mother, watching her children
play in the sunlit yard, in 1960) let the politicians
worry about it. They seem to enjoy it.
Oh, I know, there are always alarmists
Prattling on about the "lessons of history,"
Insisting the world periodically eats its young:
gets bored, or something, and shakes things up.
But what has that to do with me and mine?
In fact, I'm pretty happy with things (thought the secretary):
The new President is just back from a month-long vacation
And so am I. Starting a lovely new job,
High above Manhattan, in air conditioned safety,
This beautiful Tuesday in September
-- AJ / 17 September 2004 EV