Hammarskjöld’s
friends, responsible for publishing his journal after his untimely death, were
upset with the Anglo-American poet W. H. Auden, who had taken on the English
translation of Markings. His draft
introduction, circulated for comment before publication, struck them in part as
offensive. To no avail, they did what they could to persuade Auden to revise
it.
Auden had made the smug posthumous suggestion that Hammarskjöld would have been better
off if he had attended church more regularly – like Auden. “Our views on DH’s
religion differ from yours,” they wrote to him. “While keeping his roots in the
Christian faith, we think that DH may hae ‘out-winged’ what is usually
described as religion, reaching a point where it does not matter anymore what
label you give it. That needs, we think, just as much, and perhaps even more,
discipline than any ecclesiastical routine may be able to give.”
--from the article “Stillness in Action; Reflections on Dag Hammarskjöld” by Roger Lipsey in the
November 2013 issue of Shambhala Sun magazine
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