Archibald+MacLeish

Ars Poetica
A poem should be palpable and mute As a globed fruit

Dumb As old medallions to the thumb

Silent as the sleeve-worn stone Of casement ledges where the moss has grown -

A poem should be wordless As the flight of birds

A poem should be motionless in time As the moon climbs

Leaving, as the moon releases Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,

Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves, Memory by memory the mind -

A poem should be motionless in time As the moon climbs

A poem should be equal to: Not true

For all the history of grief An empty doorway and a maple leaf

For love The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea -

A poem should not mean But be