MAD IN HERDS

"This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss., and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest."

So begins EVANGELINE by William Wordsworth Longfellow. I hear here a shady, poetic precursor to the style of America’s other great poet, Walt Whitman. But back to the end of Longfellow’s beautiful poem.

"Still stands the forest primeval; but far away from its shadow,
Side by side, in their nameless graves, the lovers are sleeping.
Under the humble walls of the little Catholic churchyard,
In the heart of the city, they lie, unknown and unnoticed..
Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing beside them,
Thousands of throbbing hearts, where theirs are at rest and forever,
Thousands of aching brains, where theirs no longer are busy,
Thousands of toiling hands, where theirs have ceased from their labors,
Thousands of weary feet, where theirs have completed their journey.

The diaspora of Evangelizes ended but America’s sad story continues. As writer Mackay observed, people go mad in herds but find their sanity one at a time. ‘Relocating’ the Acadians might have been a mildly mad thing to do but politics in this country today is severely maddening because the hearts, brains, hands and feet of some Americans are hostile to the hearts, brains, hands and feet of other Americans. Will we ever recover our sanity one citizen at a time?