May 31, 2005 00:48
Ars Poetica
A poem should be palpable and mute
As good as globed fruit
Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb
Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown-
A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds
A poem should be motionless in time
As th moon climbs
Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night entangled trees.
Leaving, as the moon behind thw winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mind-
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs
A poem should be equal to:
NOt true
For all the history of greif
An empty doorway and a maple leaf
For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the
sea-
A poem should not mean
But be.
-Horace