I will not go over how Plato
attempted to prove the existence of the soul.
You are enamored of the body
and this is not a philosophical poem.
I’m a philosopher, but I know
poems travel by way of music.
If I believe—with Plato—in the immortality
of the soul, poetry still belongs to poetry.
Less always comes from greater
and greater always comes from less—
opposites. Life always comes from death.
You die, but you live forever. I’m terribly happy
thinking of this. Blame emotional poetry.
I can speak now of a single tree.
Elaborate symbol of creation. Verses grouped by two or three.
In my philosophy is love you will receive
by what they want or I want, or what you cannot bring yourself to believe.