I decline to accept the end of man. It
is easy enough to say that man is immortal because he will endure: that when
the last ding-dong of doom has clanged [하1] and faded from the last
worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even
then there will still be one more sound: that of his
puny [하2] inexhaustible voice, still talking.
* fade: to slowly lose intensity
ex> Many of my parents’ old color
photographs have faded.
I refuse to accept this I believe that
man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he
alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a
spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.
* merely: only; just
ex> The police were amazed that the
troublemaker was merely a child.
* prevail: to defeat an opponent;
continue to exist through endurance, superiority, etc.
ex> Benny won the first game, but Foster
prevailed for the next three.
The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is to
write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of
the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his
past.
* compassion: a desire to relieve the
distress of others
ex> Anne’s compassion for animals has saved hundreds of innocent lives.
* lift one’s heart: to invoke a sense of
joyous openness; feel elation
ex> It lifts my heart to see our son and his cousins playing together.
The poet’s voice need not merely be the
record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.
* pillar: something or someone that
provides support; a vertical support in a structure
ex> My brother is a pillar in his community.
ex> Many of the ancient stone pillars lay shattered on the ground.
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