this vast extravagance of words
should we then shelve, discard or
bar from view
of little children coming on the scene
some centuries late
who must be taught
all words are equal maybe,
only words that are socially useful
equal to the cause of being, almost, human
that is, imagination scorned and shorn
of beauty, used to advertise
a world grown wise but fool enough
to lose jeweled language
by design
abjuring the time the poets
spent in anguish to deliver one word:
that bird has flown
and relevance is god
relevant to who, to whom
do these distinctions matter
when they have scattered
the ashes of what cannot burn
except brightly
except, forever.
mary angela douglas 6 february 2017
should we then shelve, discard or
bar from view
of little children coming on the scene
some centuries late
who must be taught
all words are equal maybe,
only words that are socially useful
equal to the cause of being, almost, human
that is, imagination scorned and shorn
of beauty, used to advertise
a world grown wise but fool enough
to lose jeweled language
by design
abjuring the time the poets
spent in anguish to deliver one word:
that bird has flown
and relevance is god
relevant to who, to whom
do these distinctions matter
when they have scattered
the ashes of what cannot burn
except brightly
except, forever.
mary angela douglas 6 february 2017
