The poet, . . the prophet
“To the poet, to the philosopher, to the saint, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, all days holy, all men divine.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Romantically viewed, a philosopher’s personality might be thought of as falling somewhere between that of a poet and of a prophet. It is a common linguistic practice on the other hand to define the exact meaning of a word in virtue of its neighboring terms, hence;
The poet, . . the prophet
Blessed are the twain
the lyrical lords of words
who play the same “peace” of mind but with
different opening chords.?
?
Nourished up in the God spell?
is the prophetic soul.
The poet indulgently posed but
bound to his volatile hoards?
?
For a million sound servants
a single prophet would suffice.
One poet, . . one skeptic mind,
a rate of not much surprise?
?
Sufferings are praised by the poet as
Sheer sarcastic joys while
banned are our lawful toys in the?
prophets’ treatise.?
?
Books of the prophets you can
freely reproduce but you’d
copyright your own poems before they’re
publicly introduced!?
?
Gone are the prophets still
more poets to come.
The paradox of “Who came first?” is but
literally self-induced!??
?
Thou couldst trace back archaically
in thine very self
a romantic B.C. shepherd versus?
a brute pastor A.D.
?
Whistling the duet you repeat?
a melody called “To Be”.
A prolonged atonal elegy paused by?
sporadic glee.?
?
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Seyyed Mohsen Shahidi
June 2003