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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TOPONYMY, by RALPH GUSTAFSON Poet's Biography
First Line: Lens and line
Last Line: Field, what sky.
Subject(s): Geography; Maps
First Line: Lens and line
Last Line: Field, what sky.
Subject(s): Geography; Maps
Lens and line
Across the map deploy,
Sight cornerstones
Of man and boy.
Between, where Oder
And the Danube run,
Are acres adequate
For every son—
Soil enough
For geography and death
Who requisitions but
A shoulder's-breadth
For one or more.
He will not leave it less
Who lays a boundary
With bone and flesh—
Boundary bone
Plus loyal loin and lip—
Proof determinate
Of final map.
Have plummet point,
Let civil eye survey
The fatal length of limb
The coign of clay;
Determine where
This loyalty shall lie—
Within, without whatever
Field, what sky.
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