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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ARCHAIC WARRIOR, by                    
First Line: I have seen ticketed and labelled
Last Line: With angels for you!
Subject(s): Angels; Hearts; Love


I have seen ticketed and labelled
The proud work of death.
I have pressed my eye
To the sharp lens
Of the microscope
And watched his progress;
I believe in him,
His dainty industry,
His infallible conclusions.

Why then, should I not lose you,
Believe in your dissolution,
As the mind teaches?
And indeed I do.
For long ago, under various invisible compulsions,
With the thin despair
Of mechanical conviction,
I gave you up.

But do not doubt me,
Oh, do not doubt me.
Discount my mind;
I am not in it.
Neither its intentions,
Nor the brute will
Can force my deep resistance.

For I—I whom you knew,
Am trailing you,
With my baffled human senses,
With the worn out engine of the flesh,
With my breath
(That fuel you have forsworn),
With my being,
I am seeking you who have ceased to be.

Do not forget me,
The archaic warrior,
Contending for you,
Dragging my heavy armor
Where you are not—
Look, look and see
How I cross my stupid sword
With angels for you!





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