Chord

While Keats wrote they were cutting down the sandalwood forests
while he listened to the nightingale they heard their own axes echoing through the trees
while he sat in the walled garden on the hill outside the city they

thought of their gardens dying far away on the mountain
while the sound of the words clawed at him they thought of their wives
while the tip of his pen moved the iron they had coveted was hateful to them
while he thought of the Grecian woods they bled under red flowers
while he dreamed of wine the trees were falling from the trees
while he felt his heart they were hungry and their faith was sick
while the song broke over him they were in a secret place and they were cutting it forever
while he coughed they carried the trunks to the hole in the forest the size of a foreign ship
while he travelled to Italy they fell on the trails and were broken
when he lay with the odes behind him the wood was sold for cannons
when he lay watching the window they came home and lay down
and an age arrived when everything was explained in another language

—W. S. Merwin