Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO AN IDEALISTIC POET, by JOHN COWPER POWYS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO AN IDEALISTIC POET, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O why, dear heart, drag in
Last Line: With the over-souls and democracies.
Subject(s): Lies; Life; Muses; Poetry & Poets; Prayer; Soul


O why, dear heart, drag in
The over-soul -- and why
Must that poor phantom-thing
They call democracy

Crow in your verse and fly
Skyward on barn-door wings?
Each is a lie -- a lie!
And lies are ugly things.

Do you not know -- with all your iteration --
You who have lived so long
Listening the Muse's song,
What is the role of true Imagination?

Goethe to Eckermann
Said once; -- and he was wise, --
"Avoid high thought and scan
Nature with both your eyes."

"Do Hercules himself,"
Said Hamlet, "what he may;
The cat will mew; the dog
Will have his day."

Democracies and over-souls,
Life spins them up and sucks them down,
As round the sun the old earth rolls
And the green leaves bud in lane and town.

Over-souls and democracies
Life sucks them down and spins them up,
As the immense translunar cup
Gleams with its stellar autocracies.

In the streets of the town the harlot waits;
Even so, -- democracy or not.
The lovers lean upon country gates;
Even so, -- the over-soul or not.

The little things -- the old world's heart --
Come back, my Poet, and write of these!
The Preacher will perform his part
With the over-souls and democracies.





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