William Carlos Williams
THE TESTAMENT OF PERPETUAL CHANGE
*Mortal Prudence, handmaid of divine Providence
Wallgreen carries Culture to the West:
hath inscrutable reckoning with Fate and Fortune:
At Cortez, Colorado the Indian prices
We sail a changeful sea through halcyon days and storm,
a bottle of cheap perfume, furtively-
and when the ship laboreth, our stedfast purpose
but doesn't buy while under my hotel window
trembles like as a compass in a binacle.
a Radiance rose spreads its shell-thin
Our stability is but balance, and wisdom lies
petals above the non-irrigated garden
in masterful administration of the unforseen.
among the unprotected desert foliage.
'Twas late in my long journey, when I had clomb to where
Having returned from Mesa Verde, the ruins
the path was narrowing and the company few
of the Cliff Dwellers' palaces were still in
possession of my mind
*
The opening lines of Robert Bridges',
The Testament of Beauty.
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