For Louis Pasteur

    "Who is Apollo？" College student

    How shall a generation know its story

    If it will know no other？ When， among

    The scoffers at the Institute， Pasteur

    Heard one deny the cause of child-birth fever，

    Indignantly he drew upon the blackboard，

    For all to see， the Streptococcus chain.

    His mind was like Odysseus and Plato

    Exploring a new cosmos² in the old

    As if he wrote a poem——his enemy

    Suffering， disease， and death， the battleground

    His introspection. "Science and peace，" he said，

    "Will win out over ignorance and war，"

    But then， the virus mutant in his vein³，

    "Death to the Prussian！" and "revenge， revenge！"

    How shall my generation tell its story？

    Their fathers jobless， boys for the CCC

    And NYA， the future like a stairwell

    To floors without a window or a door，

    And then the army： bayonet drill and foxhole⁴；

    Bombing to rubble⁵ cities with textbook names

    Later to bulldoze streets for； their green bodies

    Drowned in the greener surfs of rumored⁶ France.

    My childhood friend， George Humphreys， whom I still see

    Still ten years old， his uncombed hair and grin

    Moment by moment in the Hürtgen dark

    Until the one step full in the sniper's sight，

    His pastor⁷ father emptied by the grief.

    Clark Harrison， at nineteen a survivor⁸，

    Never to walk or have a child or be

    A senator or governor. Herr Wegner，

    Who led his little troop， their standards high

    And sabers drawn⁹， against a panzer corps¹⁰，

    Emerging from among the shades at Dachau

    Stacked like firewood for someone else to burn；

    And Gerd Radomski， listening to broadcasts

    Of names， a yearlong babel of the missing，

    To find his wife and children. Then they came home，

    Near middle age at twenty-two， to find

    A new reunion of the church and state，

    Cynical¹¹ Constantines who need no name，

    Domestic tranquility beaten to a sword，

    Sons wasted by another lie in Asia，

    Or Strangeloves they had feared that August day；

    And they like runners， stung， behind a flag，

    Running within a circle， bereft¹² of joy.

    Hearing of the disaster at Sedan

    And the retreat worse than the one from Moscow，

    Their son among the missing or the dead，

    Pasteur and his wife Mary hired a carriage

    And， traveling to the east where he might try

    His way to Paris， stopping to ask each youth

    And comfort every orphan¹³ of the state's

    Irascibility， found him at last

    And， unsurprised， embraced and took him in.

    Two wars later， the Prussian， once again

    The son of Mars， in Paris， Joseph Meister——

    The first boy cured of rabies， now the keeper

    Of Pasteur's mausoleum——when commanded

    To open it for them， though over seventy，

    Lest he betray the master， took his life.

    I like to think of Pasteur in Elysium

    Beneath the sunny pine of ripe Provence

    Tenderly raising black sheep， butterflies，

    Silkworms， and a new culture， for delight，

    Teaching his daughter to use a microscope

    And musing¹⁴ through a wonder——sacred passion，

    Practice and metaphysic all the same.

    And， each year， honor three births： Valéry，

    Humbling¹⁵ his pride by trying to write well，

    Mozart， who lives still， keeping my attention

    Repeatedly outside the reach of pride，

    And him whose mark I witness as a trust.

    Others he saves but could not save himself——

    Socrates， Galen， Hippocrates——the spirit

    Fastened by love upon the human cross.