te turned dull with time
a blade that darkened and no longer cut
Later there were those who entered
not quite trusting where they were
the silences of what was left
a need in part fullled.
1 Where did time go
unanswered
The mornings of genius are long
length is no answer
to ask
such a question impossible
none at all
of days there are others
of quality to be accounted
ah
the count goes awry
Where did we go in a time
of no limits?
answers pose questions
what there is not serious
as is
where and the why
the days and their fragments
miniscule
as their length
nothing to measure
and of quality
which is
is not
or in description
what can be expected of genius?
not from its mornings
or later
its twilight
such length
or dimension
to build a cathedral.
2 What will sustain itself through?
through drought and drowning
It is needful for the builder to go back
inspect foundations
to go back
what he has built may sink at places
places where the grounds uneven
bedrock faulted
It is needful to return with caution
to return to
not to revise
not wisely
a matter of re vision
Bruckner listened
not always wisely
to those who would mend what they found faulty
incongruous
unsafe
often they were wrong
the builder listened
at peril building
on ledge that appeared and then vanished
through drought and the drowning
Needful in return to go quickly
to the structure itself
and wonder
how it could come to be.
The cathedral is never nished.
3 A sheltering
as a sheltering is never nished
it is a structure
incomplete
wards off the rain
and yet the rain seeps in
the structure rises and obscures what was open
sheltering a view
arcane
a beginning
seems to be
is not complete
pediment to spout a gargoyle
to divert the rain
and still seeps in
a water which returns is never nished
cathedral passes in the midst of being
builded of no nished stone
is not to be its nite ending
coming late
as the builders sensing
what their forebears could not
concerned with building on a ground not solid
what might seem to be
a business that outlasts its tools
in ruins of a sky around it
a shelter for the moment
but outlasting it.
4 A gap
distance which conceives a presence
how it might cohere in separation
Bruckner could not know
always
where to go
hoped for connection
a spark to leap
across
remain and yet continue
not always so
the stone may falter
fall completely into void
or in reverberation
repeat its fall
or make of it a spark
aw is not in the stone or placing
mis
placed though it may be
a certain turn
makes something other of it the gap
a certain tenderness returns to air
as air surrounding
the aw is in mistrust
the builder must not listen to the well intentioned
voices
hands that would correct a making
those that mistake the building
contours
where to go?
the simple going
not to interrupt the going
ask no end
melodic as the several airs they reach
due time to sound
and sound in other ways.
5 The stones of many shapes
the stones of being
close to the source
the ground once chosen
as a ground for building
cornerstone well placed
should not be taken from its place
needs only
that another stone should reach it
a congener
in shape and size
a stone of being
others from a similar ground
aligned and placed
as relatives to what is already there
erratic
the builder sorts them
always aware
that what he builds is larger than himself
extreme humility accorded both stone and tools
nothing to be scanted
surprises in the ordinary
the effect is natural
to become effective
hard to dene the boundings
what is built
has been there found by one who picks it up
miscalculation
that the stones may not rise
their weight denies them and a ruin stays
as what must remain
unnished
open as a shelter
to what is alien in the structure
jackdaws
piling in their nests a distant fancy.
6 A night sky remains
above the ruins of that sky
above the places where the alien things remain
things to see
not seen still seen
the focus of another sense
night sky before its darkness
what are towers?
battlements?
an outline of unnished business
where are the towers?
best to come in against the rain
not every stone is in its place
the ruins of the sky remain as blocks
another building
not this one
the builder may return
but not to build
he must remember building in farewell
those who come may pay a due respect
he shakes his head
not his concept
not at all
the failure only his to know
other grounds
another place to build.
7 To conceive an arch is not to build it
the arch is built
already there
but not apparent to more than minds eye
of a builder
able to foreshorten
change the lens
nothing more apparent
to those
who come later
claim the arch as theirs
to see what is not there
the impossible
made apparent
how it stands against
a disbelief
it is never done this way
or always done
the arch apparent
and its distance
from a concept
how it holds or does not
to support a weight the tiers of block could not
the builderss instinct knows what he cannot
only in a part of knowing
what the minds eye saw
the builder helpless
not his own design
Bruckner knew and could not know
misterioso
easy
and at times a joke locked into building
that the arch preceded what was done with it
conception may have been the fact of it
mistaken
though once claimed
the means a sensing.
8 To put it out of mind and let the stones fall
where they may
the hardest part
that the work
stands away from itself
the builder as if
he had nothing to do with it
the fall of stone
as rain later
to color and congeal
a mass of form still hesitant
out of mind
or out of wind
to put it out
a chance among the many others
the breaks
no form is perfect
perfection in its lapses
out of mind
no mind needs be to nd
what can be found?
worded as a question
where no question asks
put out of mind
it seems of mind and question
the stones
still falling
but then the builder meddles
asks advice of others
arches at a stones throw
no arches
made by design ulterior
nor was it of intent
proposed
not understood
merely thought to be
no suffering in the end
there are the minds of others at wild guess
and only in those lapses what was mind the mindful.
9 Bruckner did not know
beyond the stones he lifted into place
that surety in their falling might be haphazard
not sure there in the false step
it is not a step to avoid
the builder stumbles
fortuitous in mis stepping the many steps that wind
they take the breath away from the building
these are the strands of faith
what is believed
belief is for the builder
what he builds
is more than any faith
no longer his
he moves away incredulous
his single faith is not enough
he did it
all that should be known
not knowing
apart from what was imagined
not the cathedral
the builder owns no power
it ows through
beyond him
subsides in what is built
it stands aside
careless of its means
not to be remembered
the structure
as is
Bruckner did not know what he had built
a cathedral is never nished
10 T
HEODORE
E
NSLIN
lives in Milbridge, Maine, where he is working on a 20-
cd series of readings from his work of the past sixty years. Any individual or
institution interested in receiving a package of these cds, please contact Michael
Kuhni at solsticefarm@msn.com. Beard of Bees books are produced on GNU/Linux systems, using only Free Software.
Copyright c 2006 Beard of Bees Press
Chicago, IL
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