I first encountered this poem while reading Kelsey Grammer's autobiography, So Far..., more than a decade ago. For reasons best left unexplained it quickly became one of my favourite books. Apart from his own captivating (and oftentimes painful) history, Grammer shares an excerpt of a W.H. Auden poem--Atlantis, that moved me quite strongly. I'd like to share that passage with you today.
Assuming you beach at last
Near Atlantis, and begin
That terrible trek inland
Through squalid woods and frozen
Thundras where all are soon lost;
If, forsaken then, you stand,
Dismissal everywhere,
Stone and now, silence and air,
O remember the great dead
And honour the fate you are,
Travelling and tormented,
Dialectic and bizarre.
Stagger onward rejoicing;
And even then if, perhaps
Having actually got
To the last col, you collapse
With all Atlantis shining
Below you yet you cannot
Descend, you should still be proud
Even to have been allowed
Just to peep at Atlantis
In a poetic vision:
Give thanks and lie down in peace,
Having seen your salvation.
For the full poem, click here.
Stagger onward rejoicing. A philosophical outlook I've held ever since I read such a beautiful concept encapsulated in just three words.
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