The Prejudice Against the Past
Day is the children's friend.
It is Marianna's Swedish cart.
It is that and a very big hat.
Confined by what they see,
Aquiline pedants treat the cart,
As one of the relics of the heart.
They treat the philosopher's hat,
Left thoughtlessly behind,
As one of the relics of the mind...
Of day, then, children make
What aquiline pedants take
For souvenirs of time, lost time,
Adieux, shapes, images--
No, not of day, but of themselves,
Not of perpetual time.
And therefore, aquiline pedants find
The philosopher's hat to be part of the mind,
The Swedish cart to be part of the heart.
Wallace Stevens
On Turning 73 in 2019: Living Hope
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*This is the second of two posts from June 2019, on the occasion of my 73rd
birthday. Both are about how the future looks at that time in the world,
and f...
3 days ago
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