WH AUDEN EN

All the truth about love

Never confuse love with romance 

Wystan Hugh Auden 1907-1973

The more loving one

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

close examination:

W.H. Auden

Auden's writings are a declaration of love that makes no distinction between color, gender or sexual orientation. Being able to freely talk about love and not hide behind social and cultural conventions is to be considered as a Manifesto. It is partly, if not entirely, a courageous act at a time when homosexuality was severely punished