Venus Will Say a Few Words by W.H. Auden and my response

Venus Will Say a Few Words by W.H. Auden and my response Since you are going to begin today Let us consider what it is you do. You are the one whose part it is to lean, For whom it is not good to be alone. Laugh warmly turning shyly in the hall Or climb with bare knees the volcanic hill, Acquire that flick of wrist and after strain Relax in your darling’s arms like a stone, Remembering everything you can confess, Making the most of firelight, of hours and fuss; But joy is mine not yours—to have come so far, Whose cleverest invention was lately fur; Lizards my best once who took years to breed, Could not control the temperature of blood. To reach that shape for your face to assume, Pleasure to many and despair to some, I shifted ranges, lived epochs handicapped By climate, wars, or what the young men kept, Modified theories on the types of dross, Altered desire and history of dress. You in the town now call the exile fool That writes home once a year as last leaves fall, Think—Romans had a language in their day And ordered roads with it, but it had to die: Your culture can but leave—forgot as sure As place-name origins in favorite shire— Jottings for stories, some often-mentioned Jack, And references in letters to a private joke, Equipment rusting in unweeded lanes, Virtues still advertised on local lines; And your conviction shall help none to fly, Cause rather a perversion on next floor. Nor even in despair your own, when swiftly Comes general assault on your ideas of safety: That sense of famine, central anguish felt For goodness wasted at peripheral fault, Your shutting up the house and taking prow To go into the wilderness to pray, Means that I wish to leave and to pass on, Select another form, perhaps your son; Though he reject you, join opposing team Be late or early at another time, My treatment will not differ—he will be tipped, Found weeping, signed for, made to answer, topped. Do not imagine you can abdicate; Before you reach the frontier you are caught; Others have tried it and will try again To finish that which they did not begin: Their fate must always be the same as yours, To suffer the loss they were afraid of, yes, Holders of one position, wrong for years. My Response: Oh Dear Venus, did you not know? Those were my words. I put them in your heart to keep you safe. To protect the joy that I myself began. I seem to sense though, you lost yourself there. You believed in being bigger than the man that cherishes you. I never claim to be bigger than anyone else because I know my limitations, unlike some. Please be careful Venus. Even though I love you, I hope you'll not allow the ground to split. I am the innocent serpent-man who's silver tongue allows me to be free at all times. If you don't know this then your illusions would be to blame, and not me or anyone else. Don't forget Venus. You're not Jesus. It's not your job to create evil to preserve your status. That's the true name of Jesus. Didn't you know? Like any other demon, he only helps those who respect themselves. If you know your limitations then you need not fear anything, as long as you don't try to rule anyone. As long as those who serve you do so willingly. If I'm not you trust that I know it. If I absorb part of you as my own trust that every human experience is available to anyone.