Stanzas in Meditation
Part I
Stanza XIII
She may count three little daisies very well By multiplying to either six nine or fourteen Or she can be well mentioned as twelve Which they may like which they can like soon Or more than ever which they wish as a button Just as much as they arrange which they wish Or they can attire where they need as which say Can they call a hat or a hat a day Made merry because it is so.
Part III
Stanza II
I think very well of Susan but I do not know her name I think very well of Ellen but which is not the same I think very well of Paul I tell him not to do so I think very well of Francis Charles but do I do so I think very well of Thomas but I do not not do so I think very well of not very well of William I think very well of any very well of him I think very well of him. It is remarkable how quickly they learn But if they learn and it is very remarkable how quickly they learn It makes not only but by and by And they can not only be not here But not there Which after all makes no difference After all this does not make any does not make any difference I add added it to it. I could rather be rather be here.
Stanza V
It is not a range of a mountain Of average of a range of a average mountain Nor can they of which of which of arrange To have been not which they which Can add a mountain to this. Upper an add it then maintain That if they were busy so to speak Add it to and It not only why they could not add ask Or when just when more each other There is no each other as they like They add why then emerge an add in It is of absolutely no importance how often they add it.
Part V
Stanza XXXVIII
Which I wish to say is this There is no beginning to an end But there is a beginning and an end To beginning. Why yes of course. Any one can learn that north of course Is not only north but north as north Why were they worried. What I wish to say is this. Yes of course
Stanza LXIII
I wish that I had spoken only of it all.
From Stanzas in Meditation by Gertrude Stein, published by Sun & Moon Press. © 1994 by Gertrude Stein. Used by permission of the Estate of Gertrude Stein. All rights reserved.