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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