Poems by Themis

To a "Modern" Poet

Consider, friend, your strange new art:

The giddy babel, the words' dark pall;

Consider the towering tragic wall

You build between a heart and heart.

Clever, cunning, you close the doors,

And shut a mad beast in the den;

The tongues of flame, sun-speech of men,

You change to grovelling moans and roars.

Uncogent babbling, whim absurd,

With mockery your pages fill;

The watching soul has but one will;

To hear the one Eternal Word:

When through each image, symbol, sound,

Silence and speech weave endlessly

A faultless work of filigree,

The patterns of a Truth profound.

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