A miniature classic. 'The great cultural question for me personally is how to - not reject religion (and that is easy enough to do) - but how to TRANSCEND it. You would not want to lose those great traditions nor wipe away their sense of moral proportion. Furthermore the challenge is to make something of the magnificent architecture; sublime music, painting and poetry, that it has, over the centuries, produced.' Christopher Hitchens. In the light of this line de la Mare's Janus-like poem, looking as it does in both directions; to the past of 'we men' and forward to inevitable silence, can be seen to suggest something more profound and more disturbing. Came across this the other day. Forget 'The Age of Stupid' and 'The Day After Tomorrow' this 50 minute+ documentary says it all. Kogi; "The Elder Brothers' warning" http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-521537373096312859#