Classic Poem

Now the stealthy sunrise hoverer
Hangs like a long hawk shadow over the sea;
And now the wings of gulls whir stealthily,
Shaking shadowy water as they whir. . . .
Let earthworms tunnel in their cool closets, stir
Tremendously in the dew; let the blunt bee
Nose buckets of damp gold—what is that to me?
What is beauty without an interpreter?

Egypt—and no Rosetta Stone to read
The mockery of the Sphinx; Dante in Dis
Stark blind without the eyes of Beatrice;
A spring dawn twittering, dripping bead after bead
Of fire; … and I without your love as dumb
As any clock without its pendulum.