MENS CREATRIX
Reading edition
BRAIN, be ice, A frozen bowl of thought, Pure radius of the marble eye That is time’s central spot: In cold eternal calm Chasten the trembling thigh. Brain, brain: Be fever’s sepulcher, Entomb the noise of frightened blood, That I may strictly hear The truthful pulse of beauty Beyond this evil good. Mental womb, Intelligence of tight Precision: He comes, the sudden Lord, A rhythmic Spike of Light, To cleave you with that spike: Himself, His flowing Word. Strike, O Poem, Strike!