Randall Jarrell was a poet who died far too young at the age of 51. There are far too many who have died at the tender age of far-too-young. Today that list grows and grows anew.

This poem, entitled The Refugees and published in 1942 resonates loudly in the world that we have created or that we have allowed to be created in our name. We have not become a society overtaken by spreading apathy, we have allowed it to become the norm because to do otherwise was inconvenient. Yet I minded of the threats we have welcomed into our societies and communities. The hatred that engulfs our social dialogue is creating immeasurable inconveniences which will soon come knocking. By then our democratic laxness will receive the judgement it deserves.

Randall Jarrell wrote often of war, of society and of that most intense quality, the human condition in ...