November 3, 2026

For the past few weeks we have been overwhelmed with words trying to influence our vote. Powerful words of hate, bigotry and fear. Unflattering ads, downright lies, false innuendos have been the norm. So imagine my relief when I heard this A.E. Houseman poem, “To An Athlete Dying Young” recited by Meryl Streep in her role in “Out of Africa.” It’s sad. It’s emotional. It bears witness to the power of the written word.

“The time you won your town the race

We chaired you through the marketplace;

Man and boy stood cheering by,

And home we brought you shoulder high.

Today, the road all runners come,

Shoulder high we bring you home,

And set you at your threshold down,

Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away

From fields where glory does not stay

And early though the laurel grows

It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut

Cannot see the record cut,

And silence sounds no worse than cheers

After earth has stopped the ears:

Now you will not stop the rout

Of lads that wore their honors out,

Runners whom renown outran

And the name died before the man.

So set, before its echoes fade,

The fleet foot on the hill of shade,

And hold to the low lintel up

The still defended challenge cup.

And round that early-laurelled head

Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,

And find unwithered on its curls

The garland briefer than a girl’s.”

Long live the poets!