Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, URBAINE ON THE PLANETARIUM, by ALEC BROCK STEVENSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

URBAINE ON THE PLANETARIUM, by                    
First Line: Urbaine said that nothing would last
Last Line: There were two answers -- taste of old wine and touch of young flesh.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


Urbaine said that nothing would last,
There on an island, a desert island under the stars.
Rocks that he sat on proved they were fast;
Urbaine said that nothing would last,
Lone on an island, a sandy island, home from the wars.

Urbaine thought of the glittering kings,
Thundering emperors, delicate kings once warm on their thrones.
Brabants and Bourbons, Tudors and Mings,
Urbaine thought of the glittering kings:
Lorded their day and counted their bowman; now they are bones.

Sagittarius shone in the sky,
Burnished archer irradiate there, aiming his dart.
Urbaine sniffed and held his head high,
(Sagittarius shone in the sky)
Finding the moons and the circling planets small as his heart.

Urbaine laughed at the permanent spheres
Densely aflame, ensnaring the sky in a bright golden mesh
Loudly, forgetting the heat of his years,
Urbaine laughed at the permanent spheres.
There were two answers -- taste of old wine and touch of young flesh.





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