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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MASTERS by JAMES OPPENHEIM

First Line: I TAKE AS MY MASTER, NOT YOU NOR MYSELF NOR THE / PAST
Last Line: YOUR HANDS, MY HUMAN MASTERS.

I TAKE as my master, not you nor myself nor the past:
But Life.

Every chain I break is for the sake of the eternal irons:
I snap the links that bind me to you and you:
I crack away from the chaining appetites of myself:
And surrender to the manacles of the procreant
Power of the world.

Then am I a careful instrument used ruthlessly:
Quickly may the tool break and be shattered:
The risk is enormous:
But better to be a brief tool in the hands of Power
Than be a weighty long-lived instrument rusting in
your hands, my human masters.



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