Blutmai - Another Conversation With Auden Poem by Keith Shorrocks Johnson

'That girl of nineteen who was shot in the knees
And thrown down the concrete stairs in Berlin
Whose fate raised a righteous anger
That pleased you in its excitement -
What happened to her, I'm asking you now? '

‘Her death was a necessary condition
For the subsequent seasons', you answer.
‘Are you not aware, looking back to her death,
That nothing has changed, barricades erected
Shootings in the streets, organized fear? '

‘That being so perfunctorily incited
And then weeping, mouth helpless and ugly,
Are inevitable conditions in coming to terms
With political passion, violence and betrayal
In the shifting seasons of lovers and writers? '

‘Another girl has been shot and thrown down:
This time in Baghdad, Santiago, Hong Kong
Cochabamba … Charlottesville … Birstall …
As recent particulars come to mind.
You didn't expect the last of these did you? '