BS: Help from History

Subject: BS: Help from History
From: GUEST,SueB
Date: 16 Jul 04 - 12:12 PM

This is a poem I just ran across, by a western writer named William Stafford who died in 1993. I just wanted to share it with everyone.

HELP FROM HISTORY

Please help me know it happened, that life I thought we
had-

Our friends holding out their hands to us-
Our enemies mistaken, infected by unaccountable
prejudice-
Our country benevolent, a model for all governments, good-
willed-
Those mad rulers at times elsewhere, inhuman and yet mob-
worshipped, leaders of monstrous doctrine, unspeakable
beyond belief, yet strangely attractive to the uninstructed.

And please let me believe these incredible legends that have
dignified our lives-

The wife or husband helplessly loving us, the children full of
awe and affection, the dog insanely faithful-
Our growing up hard - hard times, being industrious and
reliable-
The places we lived arched full of serene golden light-

Now, menaced by judgements, overheard revisions, let me
retain what ignorance it takes to preserve what we need-
a past that redeems any future.