Hierarchy

FOUR POEMS

HIERARCHY

Flame-throated birds in violent noon

Blow back the sibilance of Eden's tree,

And here the frigid-fingered moon

Limns human ghost and deity.

Comes first the giver, who is God;

Comes then the sower, who is Man; _

Lives then the flower and the sod,

The seek-joy eye, the implying hand.

And next the proud appellate mind,

Whom servant flesh imputes supreme,

By dust-duration not defined,

Builds temples of persistent dream.

Comes then the heart, and much annoyed,

Its law a fire the passions preen,

Song-loud it warns whom Spring enjoyed

Of love's blue death while love's yet green.