<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">An Elegy To Dispel Gloom</div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><i class="">(After the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone </i></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><i class="">and Supervisor Harvey Milk in San Francisco, November 1978)</i></span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Let us not sit upon the ground </div><div class="">and tell sad stories </div><div class="">of the death of sanity. </div><div class="">Two humans made of flesh </div><div class="">are meshed in death </div><div class="">and no more need be said. </div><div class="">It is pure vanity </div><div class="">to think that all humanity </div><div class="">be bathed in red </div><div class="">because one young mad man </div><div class="">one so bad man </div><div class="">lost his head. </div><div class="">The force that through the red fuze </div><div class="">drove the bullet </div><div class="">does not drive everyone </div><div class="">through the City of Saint Francis </div><div class="">where there's a breathless hush </div><div class="">in the air today </div><div class="">a hush at City Hall </div><div class="">and a hush at the Hall of Justice </div><div class="">a hush in Saint Francis Wood </div><div class="">where no bird tries to sing </div><div class="">a hush on the Great Highway </div><div class="">and in the great harbor </div><div class="">upon the great ships </div><div class="">and on the Embarcadero </div><div class="">from the Mission Rock </div><div class="">to the Eagle Cafe </div><div class="">a hush on the great red bridge </div><div class="">a hush in the Outer Mission </div><div class="">and at Hunter's Point </div><div class="">a hush at a hot potato stand on Pier 39 </div><div class="">and a hush at the People's Temple </div><div class="">tries its wings </div><div class="">a hush and a weeping </div><div class="">at the Convent of the Sacred Heart </div><div class="">on Upper Broadway </div><div class="">a hush upon the fleshpots </div><div class="">of Lower Broadway </div><div class="">a pall upon the punk rock </div><div class="">at Mabuhay Gardens </div><div class="">and upon the cafes and bookstores </div><div class="">of old North Beach </div><div class="">a hush upon the landscape </div><div class="">of the still wild West </div><div class="">where two sweet dudes are dead </div><div class="">and no more need be said. </div><div class="">Do not sit upon the ground and speak </div><div class="">of other senseless murderings </div><div class="">or worse disasters waiting </div><div class="">in the wings. </div><div class="">Do not sit upon the ground and talk </div><div class="">of the death of things beyond </div><div class="">these sad sad happenings. </div><div class="">Such men as these do rise above </div><div class="">our worst imaginings.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Lawrence Ferlinghetti</div></div></body></html>