Published by a young American poet in September of 1939, and thus almost certainly written shortly before the Second World War began, this poem contemplates the way everyday routines become tentative in the face of the war to come. It seems almost to anticipate what in Britain would be called ‘the phony war’ after war was declared but the fighting had not yet started.
In the Shadow of Great Times
by Helen Goldbaum
We are like people at a wayside station, waiting between trains, or between planes. We attend the cinema, consult our watches. We sit down and stretch our legs, stare at the skylight. We buy a paper and read it without comprehending.
Noticing the whistles blowing, the crowds coming and going, We listen for the porter to call sonorously the panel of destinations.
Decorously the clock ticks: we await the roar of the transport.
