Adrienne Rich - Two Arts lyrics
[Adrienne Rich - Two Arts lyrics]
Rended creature struggles to rise, to
Run with dripping belly
Blood making everything more real
Pounds in the spearthruster’s arm as in
The gunman’s neck the offhand
Moment -Now! -before he
Takes the bastards out
Splendor in black and ochre on a grecian urn
Beauty as truth the sea as background
Stricken with black long-oared ships
On shore chariots shields
Greaved muscled legs
Horses rearing Beauty! flesh before gangrene
Mind-shifting gods rush back
And forth Delusion
A daughter seized by the hair
Swung out to bewilder men
Everything here is conflictual and
Is called man’s fate
Ugly glory: open-eyed wounds
Feed enormous flies
Hoofs slicken on bloodglaze
Horses turn away their heads
Weeping equine tears beauty?
A wall with names of the fallen
From both sides passionate objectivity