Saturday, October 29, 2005

the sharp lemon-scented surprise of language

"The road was a ribbon of moonlight
across the purple moor " --
a cherished poem of childhood
(galloping hooves on a moonlit comparison)
brings language to the fore.

Even the harsh jumpy clatter
of endless daily talk
finds grace in comparisons, analogies,
(the ancient roots of everyday speech):
we can run, yet cannot walk.

Transport systems of the mind
rely on habit, things gone before;
so in Athens the public transport
(which carries us from place to place)
is called the Metaphor.

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