Poem of the day

On this day in 1939, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany, thereby turning Germany's invasion of Poland two days earlier into World War II (I am a history geek and was voted "Most likely to win a million dollars in Jeopardy with her random knowledge of history facts" in high school).

The following poem (the first stanza) was written by W. H. Auden in New York City, entitled "September 1st, 1939", obviously on that date. I have been a huge fan of Auden's for a long time, before Four Weddings and a Funeral came out, thank you! The non-poetic sort may be familiar with his work as recited in the funeral scene in "Four Weddings.." ("Stop all the clocks...."). That is my favorite of his poems, though, and the one that never fails to make me cry.

September 1st, 1939

I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.