The Useless Ones

Poets should not reason:
Let them sing!
Argument is treason --
Bells should ring.


Statements none, nor questions;
Gnomic words.
Spirit-cries, suggestions,
Like the birds.


He may use deduction
Who must preach;
He may praise instruction
Who must teach;


But the poet duly
Fills his part
When the song bursts truly
From his heart.


For no purpose springing;
For no pelf:
He must do the singing
For itself.


Not in lines austerely
Let him build;
Not the surface merely
Let him gild.


Fearless, uninvited,
Like a spring.
Opal-words, inlighted,
Let him sing.


As the leaf grows sunward
Song must grow;
As the stream flows onward
Song must flow.


Useless? Ay, -- for measure;
Roses die,
But their breath gives pleasure --
God knows why!