Palinode

Palinode 

Daryl Hine

Orient yourself in time 

 Toward the prepossessing dawn. 

 Disenchanted by the past, 

 Turn your back forever on 

 The decadent and splendid West 

 And all your yesterdays in flame. 

Tomorrow is a promised land 

 Inevitable as success 

 Following the era you 

 Wasted in the wilderness. 

 All the prophecies are true 

 And their fulfillment is at hand. 

Tomorrow seemed a sinecure 

 Available by force or guile. 

 After your years of servitude 

 Endured beside the dirty Nile, 

 What were you able to secure 

 But exile, want and solitude?

Disorient yourself away 

 From the disappointing East. 

 Forget the fair, unfortunate 

 Fake embellishments of day, 

 Its phoney promises. The last 

 Disaster has not happened yet.