Copper Sun (Cullen)/The Poet Puts His Heart to School
The Poet Puts His Heart to School
OUR love has dwindled down to this:With proper stress and emphasisTo crown a given exercise;Those lips, that bearing, those great eyesI once was wont to praise, I tradeNow for technique and for a grade.That sun in which I used to baskNow glorifies a schoolboy’s task.Priest am I now for wisdom’s pay,And half a priest’s task is to slay,Nor raise one far-remembering cryThough with the slain the slayer die.Aloft the sacred knife is curved:The gods of knowledge must be served.