To stay anxiety I engrave this gold,
Shaping an amulet whose edges hold
A little space of order: where I find,
Suffused with light, a dwelling for the mind.
-pg. 22, The Goldsmith, New and Collected Poems 

1
here lies a man
of words, who in time
came to doubt their meanings

who therefore confines
himself to two words
only here

EZRA POVND

minimal
the injury done
to the white stone

none
to the earth
it rests upon

2
The spoils of a corsair –
who ranged the Mediterranean
and brought home
porphyry, alabaster, lapis lazuli
and every hue and current of veined marble.

In the bayleaves’ shade
dumb now
and within earshot
of the stilled Adriatic
deaf, rests
under white marble
la spoglia, the remains.
-pg. 92, At the Grave of Ezra Pound (San Michele, Venice), New and Collected Poems