Pensée, Billy Collins (for 6/30)

poetry365:

All of Paris must have been away on holiday
when Pascal said that men are not happy
because they are incapable of staying in their rooms.

It is the kind of thought that belongs in a room,
sealed off from the vanities of the world,
polished roadsters, breasts, hunting lodges,
all letdowns in the end.

But imagine Columbus examining the wallpaper,
Magellan straightening up the dresser,
Lindbergh rearranging some magazines on a table.

Not to mention the need for everyday explorations,
the wandering we do, randomly as ants,
when we rove through woods without direction
or allow the diagram of a foreign city to lead us
through long afternoons of unpronounceable streets.

Then we are like children in playgrounds
who are discovering the art of running in circles
as if they were scribbling on the earth with their bodies.

We die only when we run out of footprints.
Then the biographers move in to retrace our paths,
enclosing them in tall mazes of lumber
to make our lives seem more complex, more arduous,
to make our leaving the room seem heroic.

1. katilina reblogged this from poetry365
2. rueppell liked this
3. aknestis reblogged this from poetry365
4. rojamaria liked this
5. jolibilite reblogged this from poetry365
6. stasis liked this
7. rendan reblogged this from crashinglybeautiful
8. roamin liked this
9. devilduck liked this
10. musiquevisuelle liked this
11. buongiorno liked this
12. mythologyofblue liked this
13. cityography reblogged this from crashinglybeautiful and added:

    hear Billy Collins do...Tucson this fall. I’m jealous, but comforted;

14. cityography liked this
15. a-b-r-a-x-a-s liked this
16. fairphantom liked this
17. thepoetgame reblogged this from crashinglybeautiful
18. crashinglybeautiful reblogged this from poetry365 and added:

    - Billy Collins (from Poetry 365)

19. symphonika reblogged this from poetry365
20. metonymyme liked this
21. stapledwords reblogged this from poetry365
22. stephaniecorral liked this
23. allthatjazzm liked this
24. marissaisgod reblogged this from poetry365
25. andrewtoney reblogged this from poetry365
26. nattattack liked this
27. beckfast liked this
28. theewalkingcorpse liked this
29. feltyourshape reblogged this from poetry365
30. onealie liked this
31. sundialgirl reblogged this from poetry365 and added:

    Billy Collins was probably one...most influential poets...my...

32. gautzelin liked this
33. florajanefauna liked this
34. saveyourmortalsoul reblogged this from poetry365
35. saveyourmortalsoul liked this
36. starlingsylvia reblogged this from poetry365
37. echo-and-reverb reblogged this from poetry365
38. silver-age liked this
39. sirryrabbit liked this
40. kaylajanelle liked this
41. wallpaperlife liked this
42. annachronique liked this
43. marionatrandom liked this
44. jjjjasmine reblogged this from poetry365
45. noepithets liked this
46. awritersruminations liked this
47. badnbeautiful liked this
48. sevans1234 liked this
49. lilscones liked this
50. bayloriffic reblogged this from poetry365
51. Show more notesLoading...