A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit,


Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb,


Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of ca!@&(t ledges where the 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 two lights above the sea --


A poem should not mean
But be.