A poem should be palpable and mute
As globed fruit
Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb
Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges were moss has grown-
A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds.
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs
Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,
Leaving, as the moon, behind the 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 grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf
For love
The leaning grasses and the two lights above the sea
A poem should not mean
But be
