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About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along
- from W H Auden, “Musée des Beaux Arts”
I read this poem again recently and was stunned at how accurately it describes tragedy. While New York was being attacked by terrorists in 2001, while New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, while Tokyo was hit by an earthquake in 2011, somewhere someone was doing something mundane and trivial. I find this both disconcerting and comforting because it underscores how easily tragedy is forgotten or overlooked but also ensures us that life goes on in spite of everything. Perspective is key.
This close-up of a garbage can was taken in New York in September 2011, 10 years after the attack on the World Trade Center. It is a portrait of a constantly moving and working city which, although scarred by grief, soldiers on one day at a time.
Maria Theresa Moerman is from Glasgow.