Image: Unsplash, downloaded (https://unsplash.com/photos/9rxnPIZFA1c) 25.06.2023.
Where’s That on the Rubric?
And universal Darkness buries All.
--Pope
The deft grasp of the morning glory vine
Instructs early sunlight in concepts of mind
As preoccupied piss-ants rush madly to find
Specks of sustenance in Nature’s design.
But you, O mystery, Sibyl, secret-keeper
Of mystic truth, mortal revelation,
Have you found your spirit, your inspiration,
And, if you have, where did you sweep her?
All right, say nothing. That can be done
So many ways, some of them all right,
And as I go shuffling out of here tonight
I am content that we agree you’ve won.
And both of us know we both agree
On the Pyrrhic nature of any victory.
About the Author: R. W. Haynes is Professor of English at Texas A&M International University, where he teaches early British literature and Shakespeare. His recent publications include studies of playwright/screenwriter Horton Foote. In 2016, Haynes received the SCMLA Poetry prize at the Dallas conference of the South Central Modern Language Association. His poetry collections Laredo Light (Cyberwit) and Let the Whales Escape (Finishing Line Press) appeared in the summer of 2019, and another collection titled Heidegger Looks at the Moon came out in November 2021 from Finishing Line.
