In my youth
I studied
the impossibilia
Setting a tree of language
in void space
on fire
—Like a dark lake
consumed
by the hot winds of heaven
Or the bed of the same dark lake
seething
with dry bright grass
Which the lightning
ignites.
But now
The ax
is laid to the root
of all the trees.
From not knowing
there follows
a certain gratitude
As from not willing
there follows
a certain distracted haste.
But the barren tree
the sanguine fire
will consume forever.
From Sweet Youth by Allen Grossman (New Directions, 2002). Copyright © 2002 by Allen Grossman. Reprinted with the permission of the publisher.