Page:Poetry, a magazine of verse, Volume 7 (October 1915-March 1916).djvu/394

POETRY: A Magazine of Verse Well, are not you and I triflers, and more or less nuisances? What have we to show to prove the contrary?

Oh, we are practical, sensible men? You are quite sure of this? You will stand on your record?

Well then, if that is so, what is the poet if not a trifler and a nuisance?

He is the man of VISION!

He sees!

He sees Life with eyes of Life.

And that is something you never have done, O practical man.

Oh! You thought the poet made verses! Oh! You can't see what is at your elbow!

But the poet can.

True, some great poets have made verses. It just happened that way. That was all. They happened to make verses instead of doing something else—just as you happen to be sensible and practical instead of being efficient.

This is new, is it?

There is a great deal new for you, O man on the street.

So the poet is the man who makes words rhyme?

No, the poet is the man who sees things rhyme. For rhyme is but the suggestion of harmony; and harmony is but the suggestion of rhythm; and rhythm is but the suggestion of the superb moving equilibrium of all things.

You do not see yourself move, O man on the street? Tell me, what do you see moving? Do you see anything moving?