The yoberati formed the Paris mob
Who pronged aristos’ heads on pikes.
Such is progress: now, today,
They lacerate the world with “likes.”
Though short on liberty and fraternity
We have descended to equality—
All yobs permit themselves to snob,
And sensibility to sigh: Yikes!
October 29, 2025
Altogether elsewhere, vast
Herds of reindeer move across
Miles and miles of golden moss,
Silently and very fast.
—W. H. Auden, "The Fall of Rome" (1947)
Problems stirring in the south,
Records of a trading nation
Seek appropriate quotation,
Though we live from hand to mouth.
On the shelves of supermarkets
Gleaming goodies grate in aspect.
Voters trip the light fantastic,
Bound for Hades in a basket.
Politicians ignore the rules.
In the bedroom, undone muzzles,
In the kitchen, faded spices.
Ask not now the undertaker’s prices—
Best accept in time of troubles!
Writers taught in writing schools
Find it hard to place their pieces.
Herds of reindeer drop their faeces.
Famous figures in the Cloud
Do their best with what’s allowed.
“Les âmes des morts, disait-il, se résolvent dans la lune comme les cadavres dans la terre.” —Gustave Flaubert, Salammbô (1862)
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Updated: Nov 1, 2025
“Wherever astronomers look, they see life’s raw materials.”*
At Rhamnous in Attica, I sheltered in the sanctuary of Nemesis,
Who punished hubris in the ancient world,
A Fate who might be helpful dealing with today's,
Considering our piss-proud so-called leaders' suicidal ways.
[Rhamnous takes its name from the buckthorns, Rhamnaceae,
That grow there; see Pseudo-Scylax's Periplus (book of travels).]
So what to do when Fortune’s web unravels,
When Beelzebub's gormy banner's unfurled?
Pace The World as Will and Representation,
Nemeses don’t take kindly to dictation.
Life’s raw materials could end up in a GDP
Comprised of cunningly crafted misery.
Complex organic molecules must have their fun;
But even cosmic marathons in time are done.
*Title and subhead here are from an article by Elise Cutts, https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-cosmos-teems-with-complex-organic-molecules-20241113/ November 13, 2024.
Temoignage = (French) testimony.
Saturday, October 25, 2025
