Undelivered

From goth cathedrals voices rise

Nine graven ladies preach

On jagged shores the sirens sound

They’re singing each to each

Tom Eliot came in disguise

His secrets deeply drowned

For none regain the universe

To tell save Ezra Pound

Dirac once said that physics tries

To be direct and terse

Make manifest obscure design

But poems do the reverse

A man most needs objective eyes

On words he thinks most fine

Sam Johnson said ignore your pride

And strike out every line

A kook told Bonaparte he'd seize

His crown and his fair bride

Perhaps he could have better planned

In whom he would confide

A host of ambiguities

Our Duke gave a command

A heart made glad by his estate

Or by Fra Pandolf’s hand

In Athens it was Sophocles

Who said we cannot rate

A man until he’s passed away

Beyond the whims of fate

My postcards with no addressees

Are lost, but who can say

They still exist, just out of reach

And may arrive some day