PART 5
THE RITUAL OF CHÜD
“It is not to be done. The seepage has
rotted out the curtain. The mesh
is decayed. Loosen the flesh
from the machine, build no more bridges. Through what air will you fly to span the continents? Let the words
fall any way at all—that they may hit love aslant. It will be a rare visitation. They want to rescue too much, the flood has done its work”
—William Carlos Williams, Paterson
“Look and remember. Look upon this land, Far, far across the factories and the grass.
Surely, there, surely they will let you pass.
Speak then and ask the forest and the loam.
What do you hear? What does the land command?
The earth is taken: this is not your home. ”
—Karl Shapiro, “Travelogue for Exiles”