Crasses et Voluptés

Ars Poetica

by Archibald MacLeish

A poem should be palpable and mute   

As a globed fruit, 

Dumb 

As old medallions to the thumb, 

Silent as the sleeve-worn stone 

Of casement ledges where the moss has grown— 

A poem should be wordless   

As the flight of birds. 

A poem should be motionless in time   

As the moon climbs, 

Leaving, as the moon releases 

Twig by twig the night-entangled trees, 

Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,   

Memory by memory the mind— 

A poem should be motionless in time   

As the moon climbs. 

A poem should be equal to: 

Not true. 

For all the history of grief 

An empty doorway and a maple leaf. 

For love 

The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea— 

A poem should not mean   

But be.