A Trick of Sunlight: Poems

Hérédia

Hérédia French was his mother’s voice, sweet, close and warm, Muffling the Spanish of their vast estate— Their backwater baroquely out of date, Time’s flotsam from a long-forgotten storm. Latin and Greek sustained him through the swarm Of present truths his heart could not translate. Paris would distance them: there the debate Would poise contingency against pure form. Paris returns the febrile compliment And her Academician seeks the sea; Sated with Rome and with the orient He walks the barren cliffs of Brittany, Gazing across the formless waves to where The huge sun sinks beyond Cape Finistère. 7 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. ...