Clouds of War and Moral Disintegration April 2026
Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon (1818/1824) Caspar David Friedrich [Photo: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin] As the clouds of war and lawless horror mass over us tonight, I cannot speak or write, choked as I am with emotion at the spectacle of moral disintegration, even as men miraculously travel around the moon. Not a single word of congratulation or recognition from 'the proud man apart'... Memories of this poem by the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, read as a youth when in love and in the midst of the Vietnam war, shockingly floods my brain once more as being singularly appropriate tonight ... In My Craft or Sullen Art by Dylan Thomas In my craft or sullen art Exercised in the still night When only the moon rages And the lovers lie abed With all their griefs in their arms, I labour by singing light Not for ambition or bread Or the strut and trade of charms On the ivory stages But for the common wages Of their most secret heart. Not for the p...