Sonnets from China XVI
(sometimes titled The Embassy)
As evening fell the day’s oppression lifted;
Far peaks came into focus; it had rained;
Across wide lawns and cultured flowers drifted
The conversation of the highly trained
Two gardeners watched them pass and priced their shoes;
A chauffer waited, reading in the drive,
For them to finish their exchange of views;
It seemed a picture of the private life.
Far off, no matter what good they intended,
The armies waited for a verbal error
With all the instruments for causing pain;
And on the issue of their charm depended
A land laid waste, with all its young men slain,
Its women weeping, and its towns in terror.
WH Auden
WH Auden (1907 – 1973), whose full name is Wystan Hugh Auden, has been described as many things, including one of the
