Hear me read
the poem as
an MP3 file.
Watch me
read
the poem as
a YouTube video.
Music:
Pieces en Concert -- Prelude, La Tromba, Air de
Diable.
By Francois Couperin.
Performed by The Advent Chamber Orchestra at the
Free Music Archive
under a Creative
Commons Attribution/ShareAlike license.
How can hope become a way of life,
A principle determining one's
ends,
Putting what might be before what is,
Postponing pleasure till the
sacrifice
Yields the dream--contorted, yes, but
real?
Granted, one might choose to live
one's life
Removed from all pursuit of distant
ends,
Avid for the ecstasy of is,
Desiring neither change nor
sacrifice,
Undone by the immediately
real.
A moment cannot help but move one's life
To serve by will or chance enduring
ends.
In time one sees will be and was in
is,
Opening one's heart to sacrifice,
Needing larger nows to hold what's
real.
Copyright by Nicholas Gordon. Free for personal or non-commercial use.
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