Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, NECESSITY (- AND NECESSITY, TOO, IS BUT A GARMENT), by CHRISTIAN MORGENSTERN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NECESSITY (- AND NECESSITY, TOO, IS BUT A GARMENT), by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Necessity is like a gigantic mantle
Last Line: Free.


Necessity is like a gigantic mantle,
thrown round God's eternal body
by our need—
yet:
it does not reach far enough,
either above, or below:
The soles of God's feet
are visible beneath it,
and above rises, inaccessibly free,
His head.

Necessity is only the mantle, which
we draw about ourselves, the mortal need
whereunto we are driven by our own vision,
and turn from our own selves—
for the nakedness of the mystery
brings, like lightning,
death.
Yet underneath, our soles, unseen,
and always the crown of our heads, unseen, these
no mantle can enfold.
There we are—
free.





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