History says, Don’t hope On this side of the grave, But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise up, And hope and history rhyme

In off the moors, down through the mist beams, god-cursed Grendel came greedily loping.

As writers and readers, as sinners and citizens, our realism and our aesthetic sense make us wary of crediting the positive note.

History says, Don’t hope On this side of the grave, But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise up, And hope and history rhyme

Hope for a great sea-change timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive.

To begin with, I wanted that truth to life to possess a concrete reliability, and rejoiced most when the poem seemed most direct, an upfront representation of the world it stood in for or stood up for or stood its ground against.

There is risk and truth to yourselves and the world before you.