Palinode

Palinode 

Daryl Hine

Orient yourself in time 

 Toward the prepossessing dawn. 

 Disenchanted by the past, 

 Turn your back forever on 

 The decadent¹ and splendid West 

 And all your yesterdays in flame. 

Tomorrow is a promised land 

 Inevitable as success 

 Following the era you 

 Wasted in the wilderness². 

 All the prophecies are true 

 And their fulfillment is at hand. 

Tomorrow seemed a sinecure 

 Available by force or guile³. 

 After your years of servitude 

 Endured beside the dirty Nile, 

 What were you able to secure 

 But exile, want and solitude⁴?

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.