Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, INSCRIPTION, by LESLIE NELSON JENNINGS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

INSCRIPTION, by                    
First Line: What has been written secretly in these
Last Line: The faint, fantastic scripture of the stars.
Subject(s): Knowledge


What has been written secretly in these
Old archives of the mind? What still unread
And untranslated language of the dead
Strives with our lips to speak, through memories,
Of griefs and exultations lost not yet?
We cannot know. Our mazed thoughts grope among
Legends and words and symbols to find tongue;
But we are dumb or fearful, or forget.

We are a phrase -- no more. The winds erase
The charact'ry of dust, and meanings lie
New-figured still beyond the glyphs of Mars,
As endlessly the hands of Twilight trace
Across the ancient palimpsest of sky
The faint, fantastic scripture of the stars.




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