Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IMPRESSION: 4 (FOR JAMES FINLAY), by AUSTIN PHILIPS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IMPRESSION: 4 (FOR JAMES FINLAY), by                    
First Line: As - slave of friendship, serf to loyalty
Last Line: More, Æsculapius.
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets


AS—slave of Friendship, serf to Loyalty,
Prison'd in petty town—
I pass long hours of poet's penury,
In spirit always lone,
While watching you, full five years, I have won
Respite, remission.

In you I see, again, my own lost youth,
Abounding energy,
Passion for knowledge, ceaseless search for truth ...
Sense you as devotee,
Prompt, each new instant, for some fresh emprise
And heart-whole sacrifice.

Yet, seeing these things, I see no patch of prig
Or pedant. Swift you seem,
Alike, of foot and intellect. Also, big
Of heart. Adept at dream
And act, no less. Thrice fortunately endued
With love and fatherhood.

So, at your sight, there shines some touch of sun
On me, who hourly eke
Exiguous days. I find communion,
Meet something God-like, Greek ...
Much, Mercury—light-moving, luminous—
More, Æsculapius.





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