There is a lot of merit to the indirect approach, especially in matters where people are shielded from seeing themselves. That’s where poetry can be an asset. An odd coupling of words, placed side-by-side, may galvanize those deeply buried thoughts and allow them to surface.
And yet we neglect this art form. I had never heard of Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935), who was revered by Teddy Roosevelt, won the Pulitzer Prize three times and was nominated for a Nobel.
Don’t be like Miniver Chevy so full of regret for a time long past.
Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,
Grew lean while he assailed the seasons;
He wept that he was ever born, And he had reasons.
Miniver loved the days of old
When swords were bright and steeds were prancing;The vision of a warrior bold
Would set him dancing.
Miniver sighed for what was not, And dreamed, and rested from his labors;
He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot, And Priam's neighbors.
Miniver mourned the ripe renown
That made so many a name so fragrant;
He mourned Romance, now on the town, And Art, a vagrant.
Miniver loved the Medici, Albeit he had never seen one;
He would have sinned incessantly
Could he have been one.
Miniver cursed the commonplace And eyed a khaki suit with loathing;
He missed the mediæval grace
Of iron clothing.
Miniver scorned the gold he sought, But sore annoyed was he without it;
Miniver thought, and thought, and thought, And thought about it.
Miniver Cheevy, born too late,
Scratched his head and kept on thinking;
Miniver coughed, and called it fate, And kept on drinking.
Embrace the dynamism of the future, one of individual actors working towards their best lives independently or in collaboration. The trappings of royalty are but costumes.
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