Collected Poems of John Holmes
Holmes, John A., Jr.
2002
To keep and not to keep [These conditions] [What to keep, what to lose]
To keep and not to keep [These conditions] [What to keep, what to lose]
Soon laying aside the new skill Foreknown, well-learned, once-used- Eagerly (not easily) by brain and will Learning the next, or the two fused- Forget it. Spend it. Give it away All excellent. But yesterday. This not of skills only and thought true, But of love also to keep love new. And of shrewdest hope for this mankind. Such getting and spending make us wise, Fresh-welling and brimming in the mind, Young a long time in the hands and eyes. Otherwise have and hold is well. Ought not new life be lived in peace Putting roots down in one country till Our neighbors and generations increase? Keep what can be carried like a coin, The much in little: wisdom's chart: The appetites: the seed in loin. Not possessions, but the wit, the art, The will to live well anywhere, Being our own sky and storms in air. | |