Non Dolet by Jack D. Harvey

Image | Pixabay 

Non Dolet

The pleasures of philosophy;

the smiling stars

parade out of heaven,

one by one,

and more than one,

bursting forth with a bloom

more beautiful than youth;

but not for the young,

whose energies lie elsewhere.

The treasures of philosophy;

flowers that grow on earth

need simple sun and rain

and not the sources of things,

or the mishaps of ontology.

Consolations of the spirit

ebb and flow with time

and the light-going years;

unconsoled at last,

we cope like prisoners,

uncomfortable in the

narrow chambers of Faust.

Green sleeves, green dresses

echo the forest

and lawns

of far-off youth,

when balance was

a bouncing ball,

up and down,

up and down, restless,

careless as love.

Careful now as ballerinas,

we wend our ambiguous ways

to termination.

But listen;

the fields are

green as ever, if bare

in winter, the winter sea

glad-handed and

brilliant as ice;

the balls balance still,

like sun and moon,

rolling

the miles away, the years.

Like Captain Cook,

whatever strikes us dead

strikes at least

in a different clime,

beginning and ending

among strangers,

indifferent to see us

gasp our last.

To the dump

with the memory

of the limber nervous body;

Venus’ corpse was always

there, the skull

as bare beneath the

freckled nose and

cheeks as Yorick’s,

the ribs

stark scaffolds

beneath the

nourishing breasts.

So what if all

goes under to the grave?

Let’s fare our way,

and crazy or judicious

in decay,

servants of luck and time,

let’s live like masters

in another’s house;

the good shepherd,

the faithful steward,

calm only the righteous,

or those patient for eternity.

The measure of philosophy;

whirling all overhead like a

mad king or a drunken dervish;

sea to sea,

beginning to end,

come to rest

we will.

© Jack D. Harvey

Jack D. Harvey

Jack D. Harvey’s poetry has appeared here, there and elsewhere on the internet and in paper. The author has been writing poetry since he was sixteen and lives in a small town near Albany, New York.

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