Word
Gems
What is a
man but the sum of his thoughts?
Poetry:
- Archibald
McLeish's
- Ars Poetica
- A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit,
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- Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb,
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- Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown--
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- A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds.
-
- *
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- A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs,
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- Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,
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- Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves.
Memory by memory the mind--
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- A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs.
-
- *
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- A poem should be equal to:
Not true.
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- For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf.
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- For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea--
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- A poem should not mean
But be.
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