Ars Poetica

A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit,

Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb,

Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where moss has grown -

A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds.

*

A poem should be motionless in time

As the moon climbs,

Leaving, as the moon releases

Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,

Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,

Memory by memory the mind -

A poem should be motionless in time,

As the moon climbs.

*

A poem should be equal to:

Not true.

For all the history and grief

An empty doorway and a maple leaf.

For love

The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea -

A poem should not mean

But be.

Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982)