Poetry September 1967 Atlantic

by Howard Nemerov

Rope's End

Article Tools

email E-mail Article
print Printer Format

Unraveling a rope
You begin at the end.
Taking the finished work
You pick it to its bits,

Straightening out the crossed,
Deriving many from one,
Moving forward in time
And backward in idea,

Reaching to finer elements
And always thinner filaments,
From rope to cord to thread
And so on down to splinters

No longer serpentine
That break instead of coil
And that will blow away
Before a little breath,

Having attained the first
Condition, being dust,
No longer resembling rope
Or cord or thread or hair,

And following no line:
Incapable of knot or wave
Or tying things together
Or making anything secure,

Unable to bind, or whip,
Or hang till dead. All this
In the last analysis
Is crazy man's work,

Admitted, who can leave
Nothing continuous
Since Adam's fall
Unraveled all.

Article Tools

email E-mail Article
Printer Format
Share

Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter.

 

Also By

Howard Nemerov

May 1967

Projection

September 1955

The Old Soldiers' Home


Name

Address 1

Address 2

City

State Zip

Email