New at IWP Books: Phyllis McGinley, 1951, A Short Walk from the Station. Review by Jacques Barzun.

lament for a wavering viewpoint

I want to be a Tory
 And with the Tories stand,
Elect and bound for glory
 With a proud, congenial band.
Or in the Leftist hallways
 I gladly would abide,
But from my youth I always
 Could see the Other Side.

How comfortable to rest with
 The safe and armored folk
Congenitally blessed with
 Opinions stout as oak!
Assured that every question
 One single answer hath,
They keep a good digestion
 And whistle in their bath.

But all my views are plastic,
 With neither form nor pride.
They stretch like new elastic
 Around the Other Side;
And I grow lean and haggard
 With searching out the taint
Of hero in the blackguard,
 Of villain in the saint.

Ah, snug lie those that slumber
 Beneath Conviction’s roof.
Their floors are sturdy lumber,
 Their windows, weatherproof.
But I sleep cold forever
 And cold sleep all my kind,
Born nakedly to shiver
 In the draft from an open mind.