To write some words and claim we know ourselves,

As if words on a screen mean anything.

As if we can sum ourselves up-

Fifty words to capture a lifetime.

Adjectives, adverbs, toss in a noun and a verb:

A person, reflected on paper.

Know thyself?

How can I show that I know myself

Through words and symbols on shallow screen.

The curve of a finger and the click of a key

Mean nothing of a glinting amber eye or the curl of hair,

Not to speak for the spark of mind or whirl of imagination.

Even if my eyes were dull and my hair lax,

My mind dry and my imagination still,

I cannot know all of my hidden depths

Not enough to give to you.

When there's a certain slant of light,

And when the leaves align just right...

Dappled webs of bluish gray,

Shadows mesh, and colors sway,

And that burning, dying gold

Lights up her face, not quite so old-

And I stand there, amidst the grass,

Wondering how it ends

                                    so

                                       fast;

I thought, perhaps,

My word could plant its roots,

And stay there, stone

Against the wind -

But once the hurricanes came around,

It flew away,

More like the roses in the ground

Than that old oak it seemed to me -

Perhaps I should have watched it more,

Watered those roots, chased worms away,

And if I'd known its end was near,

Perhaps it would be here to stay.

My fault alone, I think -

No less. 

And yet it's so hard

Not to miss

That leafy shade

And steady trunk

That stole my doubts

And left me drunk,

And now it's gone,

Forever missed,

And I stand

Confessing

To the winds.

Pivotal, poetic order, must needs be 14 lines exactly

Regulated pattern, impossible to break

Only Prose laughs, breaks free of common bonds

Says what it wants to say, is as long as it wants to be

Enough! It says. Have mercy, and make this the end

It is the age remembered,

the shimmer of a promise,

the delight of a brilliant sunrise;

its reflection is true, 

it is the unalloyed and faithful

the measure of good fortune

the grief and glory of kings and kingdoms

the plaything of dwarves and dragons

bent in filigree or gilding frames

it is never unnoticed.

I woke up

And my lamp grew legs

Then walked out of the room

I jumped out of bed, furious

How could that happen?

Why?

He didn't shut the door!