PROEM TO REALITY
(for
P. R.)
Polaris will not be always the north North Star–
There
is
no reference but to shifting
fixity
And earth itself
is
thus as
if
no angel were
A bodiless steersman to the mythos of earth,
Its cry of plover like a pack of dogs.
That which has been and
is
not exists perhaps no more
As
little as that which has never been-
From our too thin breathing this life
is
not redeemed.
Like snow in space
is
every form and Leucon, a white heron,
Are old eels with eyes enlarged who cross dank meadows
On suicidal journeys to a possible sea,
Are all contingencies and temporary stars.
There
is
no whole. In particles
is
the world perceived partially
By particles, nor
is
there a priori knowledge of the rose
Dissolving, but thoughts without objects, objects without thoughts,
Their conjunction in one consciousness, I think!
All truth and all error, the putting together of names,
A nail to keep the universe from falling,
Drepanis, who is a passenger from the sea to heaven
And
is
not. 0, the loud tumult of the whirling geese!
The universalities of the future do not occur
But in the present moment always vanishing.
The tyranny of law we can affirm in air
But the wound of absence
is
forever ours
And God was the only project admitting of completion.
MARGUERITE YouNG
