I was reading a book the other day and happened across mention of part of a poem by William Butler Yeats, written in 1938, entitled “Politics.”  I thought it was interesting in the context in which it was cited, which was a discussion of the term and concept, “politics.”  One might think a poem with that title would emphasize politics, and in one sense it does, but as I see it, primarily in its reminder of what politics is not.  Politics is not life.  The two are not identical, and in our present environment, so saturated with it, we do well, particularly as Christians, to remember that,  Below is the poem in its entirety:

“In our time the destiny of man presents its meanings in
political terms” – Thomas Mann

How can I, that girl standing there,
My attention fix
On Roman or on Russian
Or on Spanish politics?
Yet here’s a travelled man that knows
What he talks about,
And there’s a politician
That has read and thought,

and maybe what they say is true

of war and war’s alarms

But O that I were young again
And held her in my arms!

It seems at first like strange juxtaposition of the explicitly political and the romantic.  But pay attention to the epigraph by Thomas Mann: “In our time the destiny of man presents its meaning in political terms.”  For Mann, all has become politics.  The political is all there is.  Yeats tells us, on the contrary, there is life besides politics.  In fact, life beyond politics is very important, possibly even more meaningful than politics itself.

For the believer especially, life begins with God, not politics.  If our god is politics, it can be a very harsh taskmaster, demanding what cannot be had, and a devotion that belongs only to God.  But within the sphere of God’s glory, then and only then can politics itself gain perspective.  Read the poem again, and think of the historical context of 1938:  Totalitarian governments of the Soviet Union, Italy and Germany, not to mention struggles in Spain and elsewhere.  Interestingly the word “totalitarian” itself implies that the state must be total.  To quote from Mussolini’s Fascist Decalogue (1938),  “3. The nation serves even as a sentinel over a can of petrol.”  For totalitarian governments, even the smallest thing must fall under the state’s sphere of influence.  Not so for the Christian, whose smallest act, thought or word falls under the Lordship of Christ.  Perhaps we all need to read the poem on occasion.  Thank you, Mr. Yeats.

“What does it profit a man to gain the world and forfeit his own soul?”