Ode to Joy, Joan Mitchell (oil on canvas, 1970)

Ode to Joy

Within these words   many silences   I
have nothing to say and I’m saying it
Overnight the world
                         has turned green  :  oak
ash   sycamore on the skyline   The sap
has risen and nature is rejoicing
The daffodils accomplish nothing   nor
does the cherry blossom now lining the
gutter    I think of space as silent dis-
tance I think of time as silent space   wait-
ing to be used    No more dying Frank wrote
in his ode to joy and then he died   This
is life     the bare bones of it   the warm soft
tissue of it    Live it and love it while
you can before cold death
                                puts you to bed

John Lyons

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