On First Hearing of Proposed Action

Long have I laboured in this ill-starred rôle,
But many worthy men and women seen:
Enraged and raggèd-trousered have I been
And borne the scars of love lived on the dole.
Yet fake Utopia do some extol,
Where but to follow makes life evergreen:
They preach as though they were the Nazarene,
But mark a path that leads us to Sheol.
I think them like fool creatures of the past,
When what they knew was dying, utterly;
Or like Cnut, as all in vain at last,
He ordered back the tides – Now they, and he,
Stare at each other as the future’s cast -
And drown in endless waves of History.