it is not the theory that matters
of the black tires spinning around the sun
and the meteors playing among them
notes of music that on earth
make things happen
they happen in the sun
these voices saying there must be more
and explaining
and in a while
all you will want to remember
will be the circumstances in which you heard
the explanations
there was on that day a famous
athletic contest
and meanwhile
the old friends the voice singing the city at night
the black tire running
on its street
nearby
the night when you
walked alone in the city where you had been born
and heard the tires
and saw the first imitation stone mask
and the white avenue
and forgot them
John Hollander
AN INTRODUCTION TO ABSENCE
"Absence," Fulke Greville says "is pain."
I flee it through the gates of sleep;
Discount therefore the tears I weep
A propos
of the falling rain.
