The Boxer of Quirinal

"All animals struggle to survive. In John Barr's poems, the success of the heron hunting, the albatross breeding, and the inchworm spinning give proof of life. But for us, that struggle includes the eternal presence of war. Does the fall of Rome, the Battle of Shiloh, the Normandy Landings--and today's wars--give proof of life or only of the struggle?"--