1531: After a Greek Proverb | A.E. Stallings
"After a Greek Proverb"
A. E. Stallings
Ουδέν μονιμότερον του προσωρινού
We're here for the time being, I answer to the query--
Just for a couple of years, we said, a dozen years back.
Nothing is more permanent than the temporary.
We dine sitting on folding chairs--they were cheap but cheery.
We've taped the broken window pane, TVs still out of whack.
We're here for the time being, I answer to the query.
When we crossed the water, we only brought what we could carry,
But there are always boxes that you never do unpack.
Nothing is more permanent than the temporary.
Sometimes when I'm feeling weepy, you propose a theory:
Nostalgia and tear gas have the same acrid smack.
We're here for the time being, I answer to the query--
We stash bones in the closet when we don't have time to bury,
Stuff receipts in envelopes, file papers in a stack.
Nothing is more permanent than the temporary.
Twelve years now and we're still eating off the ordinary:
We left our wedding china behind, afraid that it might crack.
We're here for the time being, we answer to the query,
But nothing is more permanent than the temporary.
On this day in...
2011: "Poem for Jack Spicer" by Matthew Zapruder
2010: "A Pity, We Were Such a Good Invention" by Yehuda Amichai
2009: "Trying to Raise the Dead" by Dorianne Laux
2008: "Nativity" by Li-Young Lee
2007: "If" by Rudyard Kipling
Say burning bush. Say stone.
A. E. Stallings
Ουδέν μονιμότερον του προσωρινού
We're here for the time being, I answer to the query--
Just for a couple of years, we said, a dozen years back.
Nothing is more permanent than the temporary.
We dine sitting on folding chairs--they were cheap but cheery.
We've taped the broken window pane, TVs still out of whack.
We're here for the time being, I answer to the query.
When we crossed the water, we only brought what we could carry,
But there are always boxes that you never do unpack.
Nothing is more permanent than the temporary.
Sometimes when I'm feeling weepy, you propose a theory:
Nostalgia and tear gas have the same acrid smack.
We're here for the time being, I answer to the query--
We stash bones in the closet when we don't have time to bury,
Stuff receipts in envelopes, file papers in a stack.
Nothing is more permanent than the temporary.
Twelve years now and we're still eating off the ordinary:
We left our wedding china behind, afraid that it might crack.
We're here for the time being, we answer to the query,
But nothing is more permanent than the temporary.
On this day in...
2011: "Poem for Jack Spicer" by Matthew Zapruder
2010: "A Pity, We Were Such a Good Invention" by Yehuda Amichai
2009: "Trying to Raise the Dead" by Dorianne Laux
2008: "Nativity" by Li-Young Lee
2007: "If" by Rudyard Kipling
Say burning bush. Say stone.