Mould and Vase
Greek pottery of Arezzo
by Edith Wharton
.....
Here in the jealous hollow of the mould,
Greek pottery of Arezzo
by Edith Wharton
.....
Faint, light-eluding, as templed in the breast
Of some rose-vaulted lotus, see the best
The artist had—the vision that unrolled
Its flying sequence till completion's hold
Caught the wild round and bade the dancers rest—
The mortal lip on the immortal pressed
One instant, ere the blindness and the cold.
And there the vase: immobile, exiled, tame,
The captives of fulfillment link their round,
Foot-heavy on the inelastic ground,
How different, yet how enviously the same!
Dishonoring the kinship that they claim,
As here the written word the inner sound.
Copyright © 2001 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
The Atlantic Monthly; December 1889; Mould and Vase; Volume 88, No. 257; page 343.