Belated In Memoriam

RIP Christopher Hitchens. I've always loved his writing. I think he went off the rails supporting Bush on Iraq, but I am reminded of what Auden wrote about Yeats:


Time that is intolerant
Of the brave and the innocent,
And indifferent in a week
To a beautiful physique,

Worships language and forgives
Everyone by whom it lives;
Pardons cowardice, conceit,
Lays its honours at their feet.

Time that with this strange excuse
Pardoned Kipling and his views,
And will pardon Paul Claudel,
Pardons him for writing well.