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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MOULD AND VASE; GREEK POTTERY OF AREZZO by EDITH WHARTON

First Line: HERE IN THE JEALOUS HOLLOW OF THE MOULD
Last Line: AS HERE THE WRITTEN WORD THE INNER SOUND.
Subject(s): POTTERY AND POTTERS;

HERE in the jealous hollow of the mould,
Faint, light-eluding, as templed in the breast
Of some rose-vaulted lotus, see the best
The artist had -- the vision that unrolled
Its flying sequence till completion's hold
Caught the wild round and bade the dancers rest --
The mortal lip on the immortal pressed
One instant, ere the blindness and the cold.

And there the vase: immobile, exiled, tame,
The captives of fulfillment link their round,
Foot-heavy on the inelastic ground,
How different, yet how enviously the same!
Dishonoring the kinship that they claim,
As here the written word the inner sound.




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