Friday, August 05, 2005

Taught is Fate

Several weeks ago I started writing a poem. It was about a man who gets a visit from some sort of spirit: perhaps an angel, perhaps not. I made it to four verses before I quit (complete lack of plot might have had something to do with it). The first three weren't good, but the last was better. The man asks the spirit why he has come, "I called thee not, why art thou here? / Why come unbidden now to me?" The spirit replies:

"Unbidden call me not, nor aught
That happens in thy mortal land:
Ordered all things are, and taught
Is Fate to follow unseen hand."


Yes, I've been reading Faust recently. How could you tell?