SEPTEMBER 1, 1939 by W.H. Auden

I AND THE PUBLIC KNOW
WHAT ALL SCHOOL CHILDREN LEARN,
THOSE TO WHOM EVIL IS DONE
DO EVIL IN RETURN

EPITAPH ON A TYRANT, by W.H. Auden

Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,

and the poetry he invented was easy to understand;

He knew human folly like the back of his hand,

and was greatly interested in armies and fleets;

When he laughed, respectable senators burst

with laughter, and when he cried the little children

died in the streets.