Lawrence Hall, HSG
A Garden is a Department of Metaphysics
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
-Rumi
A garden is a Department of Metaphysics
Promethean fire and
shadows in a cave of light
Leaves of trees falling
upon more leaves
The leaves of books left
open to the sun
The lecture lawn is
furnished with old chairs
Old garden chairs rusty
with wisdom and age
From duty to weather and
men, the several cathedrae
Of the learned Order of
Gaffer Swanthold
Athena’s owl calls from
the nearby wood
Calling all men to silence
and reflection
Rumi,
untitled poem, trans. Coleman Barks and John Moyne
A Book
of Luminous Things,
ed. Czeslaw Milosz
In this
context “men” is gender-neutral. Wrecking an iambic foot in obedience to the
moods of an external authority is not poetry; it is weaknessssssssssssss.
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