An Elegy To Dispel Gloom - Lawrence Ferlinghetti

[Larry Robinson]

An Elegy To Dispel Gloom
(After the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone 
and Supervisor Harvey Milk in San Francisco, November 1978)


Let us not sit upon the ground 
and tell sad stories 
of the death of sanity. 
Two humans made of flesh 
are meshed in death 
and no more need be said. 
It is pure vanity 
to think that all humanity 
be bathed in red 
because one young mad man 
one so bad man 
lost his head. 
The force that through the red fuze 
drove the bullet 
does not drive everyone 
through the City of Saint Francis 
where there's a breathless hush 
in the air today 
a hush at City Hall 
and a hush at the Hall of Justice 
a hush in Saint Francis Wood 
where no bird tries to sing 
a hush on the Great Highway 
and in the great harbor 
upon the great ships 
and on the Embarcadero 
from the Mission Rock 
to the Eagle Cafe 
a hush on the great red bridge 
a hush in the Outer Mission 
and at Hunter's Point 
a hush at a hot potato stand on Pier 39 
and a hush at the People's Temple 
tries its wings 
a hush and a weeping 
at the Convent of the Sacred Heart 
on Upper Broadway 
a hush upon the fleshpots 
of Lower Broadway 
a pall upon the punk rock 
at Mabuhay Gardens 
and upon the cafes and bookstores 
of old North Beach 
a hush upon the landscape 
of the still wild West 
where two sweet dudes are dead 
and no more need be said. 
Do not sit upon the ground and speak 
of other senseless murderings 
or worse disasters waiting 
in the wings. 
Do not sit upon the ground and talk 
of the death of things beyond 
these sad sad happenings. 
Such men as these do rise above 
our worst imaginings.

 	- Lawrence Ferlinghetti
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