The Useless Ones

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Poets should not reason: Let them sing!Argument is treason -- Bells should ring.

Statements none, nor questions; Gnomic words.Spirit-cries, suggestions, Like the birds.

He may use deduction Who must preach;He may praise instruction Who must teach;

But the poet duly Fills his partWhen the song bursts truly From his heart.

For no purpose springing; For no pelf:He must do the singing For itself.

Not in lines austerely Let him build;Not the surface merely Let him gild.

Fearless, uninvited, Like a spring.Opal-words, inlighted, Let him sing.

As the leaf grows sunward Song must grow;As the stream flows onward Song must flow.

Useless? Ay, -- for measure; Roses die,But their breath gives pleasure -- God knows why!

© O'Reilly John Boyle