Asaf Bartov (ijon) wrote,
Asaf Bartov
ijon
  • Mood: surprised
  • Music: birds chirping

A Surprise in the Shower

It's been years, literally, since I've composed a poem. My paralyzing perfectionism prevented me from producing poetry. But this morning, in the shower, this sprang up in my mind:

Self Portrait, 2003


Forever mispronouncing words
A neoglot eternal;
Can speak, perhaps, some Attic Greek
But mixes it with Doric.

Enamored of the intellect
A coward dilettante;
Awash with undercurrents vast
But firmly Apollonic.

Aghast at youth today, at Man
A classicist escapist;
In dreams sings Wotan in Der Ring
But dares not sing in public.

*

What a piece of work am I
How fragile in reason
How insecure in faculty


--10-Feb-2003
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  • 12 comments

  • Shah of Shahs / Ryszard Kapuściński

    Exactly 38 years ago, Khomeini returned to Iran from his exile in France, and set in motion the Islamic Revolution of Iran. A little over a year…

  • On Immigrants

    Speaking of immigrants, Sir Ian McKellen would like to offer this passage, from the Elizabethan play Sir Thomas More: GEORGE. Marry, the removing…

  • Goodreads is fun; Dickens; Mortimer

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