Two de Chiricos

Two de Chiricos

Original Text
Mark Strand, New Sleceted Peoms (New York: Knopf, 2007): 230-231 PS 3569.T69A6 2007X Robarts Library
for Harry Ford
1 The Philosopher's Conquest
1This melancholy moment will remain,
2So, too, the oracle beyond the gate,
3And always the tower, the boat, the distant rain.
4Somewhere to the south a duke is slain,
5A war is won. Here, it is too late.
6This melancholy moment will remain.
7Here, an autumn evening without rain,
8Two artichokes abandoned on a crate,
9And always the tower, the boat, the distant train.
10Is this another scene of childhood pain?
11Why do the clockhands say 1:28?
12This melancholy moment will remain.
13The green and yellow light of love's domain
14Falls upon the joylessnss of fate,
15And always the tower, the boat, the distant train.
16The things our vision wills us to contain,
17The life of objects, their unbearable weight.
18This melancholy moment will remain,
19And always the tower, the boat, the distant train.
2 The Disquieting Muses
20Boredom sets in first, and then despair.
21One tries to brush it off. It only grows.
22Something about the silence of the square.
23Something is wrong; something about the air,
24Its colour; about the light, the way it glows.
25Boredom sets in first, and then despair.
26The muses in their fluted evening wear,
27Their faces blank, might lead one to supposed
28Something about the silence of the square,
29Something about the building standing there.
30But no, they have no purpose but to pose.
31Boredom sets in first, and then despair.
32What happens after that, one doesn't care.
33What brought one here--the desire to compose
34Something about the silence of the square,
35Or something else, of which one's not aware,
36Life itself, perhaps--who really knows?
37Boredom sets in first, and then despair...
38Something about the silence of the square.
Publication Start Year
1998
Publication Notes
The Blizzard of One, 1998
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2009
Form