work in The New Republic. The naturalnworld and the “tradition of Nature”nwere a necessary part of her work: “Itnwas only thus that I could catch a keepnthe tune.” As for “other and largernmodes/’ those she left to others. Hernambitions were modest in the samenway a modest man does not try to savenhumanity, just his nextdoor neighbor.nAs someone else has noted, such anman is a lot more likely to do humanitynsome good.nHer final book of poetry. Poems: AnSelection came out in 1954, the yearnshe shared the Bollingen Prize withnLouise Bogan. Her later years werenspent in New Milford, Connecticut,nher writing’ well behind her. Sincenpoets should be allowed to write theirnown epitaphs, here is the opening ofn”Thought’s End”:nI watched the hills drink the lastncolor of light,nAll shapes grow bright and wanenon the pale air.nTill down the traitorous eastnthere came the night.nAnd swept the circle of mynseeing bare.nIts intimate beauty like anwanton’s veilnTore from the void as from annempty face.nI felt at being’s rim all beingnfail.nAnd my one body pitted againstnspace.nStill more apt are these lines fromn”Death and the Lady”:nTell me, Lady,nIf in your breast the livelynbreathnMay flicker for a little space.nWhat ransom will you give tondeath.nLady?” he said.n”O not one joy, O not onengrace.nAnd what is your will to mynwill?nI can outwit parched fanciesnstill.”nTo Death said the Lady.nGood poetry has always been a badnjoke on death, and always been thensurest route to, if not immortality, thennsome limited rough equivalent. “Aye,”nshe wrote in “Sundown,” “tatter younand rend,/ Oak heart, to your professionnmourning, not obscure/ The outcome,nnot crespuscular, on the deepnfloor …” I am sorry she is gone.n(KD)nThat the Greek community is wildlynenthusiastic about Michael Dukakis isnperfectly understandable. He is, as theynsay, one of their own. But there is antroubling twist. Early in the campaignnis was being said that Dukakis is “anmember in good standing” in thenGreek Orthodox Church. At almostnevery level of Greek Orthodoxy in thisncountry Dukakis has been feted and, tonall appearances, his campaign has receivednthe church’s blessing. This isnespecially striking in view of his vigorouslynpro-abortion policy, which is inndiametrical opposition to the teachingnof the Greek Orthodox Church. Therenis also the lesser issue of Dukakis’snbeing married outside the church. Andnyet the Greek Orthodox Archdiocesenand its local churches seem to benwinking at the discrepancies.nStudents of Orthodoxy in this country,nsuch as the late AlexandernSchmemann, have long noted that it isnan open question as to whether Ortho­ndoxy in America is more an ethnicnthan a religious phenomenon. To bensure, and as is the case also with othernreligious communities, more than onendynamic can come into play. But fornthe sake of religious and spiritual integrity,nthe very least that might be expectednfrom Greek Orthodox leaders is thatnthey clarify the ecclesiastical status ofnMichael Dukakis, and publicly reaffirmntheir own teaching, notably on abortion.nThe Archdiocese has said only thatnit “will not become party” to the effortsnto “inject religion into the political lifenof this nation.” It would seem that thenspiritual integrity of the church hasnbeen subordinated to ethnic pride. Theninference is hard to resist that thenGreek in Greek Orthodox is muchnmore important than the Orthodoxy.nTwenty-eight years ago many RomannCatholics, in their eagerness to havenone of their own in the White House,noverlooked the fact that he was notnmuch of a Roman Catholic. ThenGreek Orthodox Archdiocese shouldnthink again about the unseemliness of anchurch playing the role of politicalnmistress.n— Richard John NeuhausnIn the forthcoming issue of Chronicles:nUtopia Unlimitedn”It was Wilsonianism that saved Franklin D. Rooseveltnfrom defeat in 1940; Wilsonianism and, of course, thenuseful Second World War. Roosevelt was in the directnWilson tradition when he waded in gradually, first affirmingnneutrality, then declaring for quarantine, then discoveringnin January 1941 that the real objective of thenwar — whether Churchill and others fighting it knew thisnor not—was the global establishment of the Four Freedoms,nand then months later wrapping the whole war,nincluding Stalin’s participation from June on, into thenAtlantic Charter. It was not a very long step from thenCharter to the infamous Declaration on Liberated Europencomposed at Yalta.”n— from “Our Stumbling Giant” by Robert NisbetnnnNOVEMBER 19881 Sn