For These Troubled Times

(Inspired by today's 'On Point' on NPR)

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
                                     'The Second Coming' by W. B. Yeats

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste to our powers.
                                     'The World' by William Wordsworth

History!  Read it and weep!
                                     'Cat's Cradle' by Kurt Vonnegut

May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.
                                     'September 1, 1939' by W. H. Auden

You're either staying in or going out.
Everything else is irrelevant detail.
                                     'Sein Language' by Jerry Seinfeld