What must Europe do? She must keep her beds
European. And what is the European bed? Let us first
clarify what it’s not. It does not pretend to be new nor
try to assure you that no other body has lain before you
in that bed and if a person unfortunately has, that person
certainly has not overslept nor left any dent or mark.
It is not unyielding, no, the true European bed is expansive
and giving, it is the bed of a large extended family in which
generations have slept and got up individual and spirited.
I give you some old news straight from the writers’ mouths–
many writers are convinced Europe is washed up, she is
finished, exhausted. They’ve been saying it for years,
for Pound already she was the ‘old bitch gone in the teeth’–
A hard and prudent bed will not see her rise refreshed,
Europe must be firm and keep her soft bed