Week 6: SHARE (FORGIVE)

Piero di Cosimo (1462-1522), detail

The Wall
Donald Justice

The wall surrounding them they never saw;
The angels, often. Angels were as common
As birds or butterflies, but looked more human.
As long as the wings were furled, they felt no awe.
Beasts, too, were friendly. They could find no flaw
In all of Eden: this was the first omen.
The second was the dream which woke the woman.
She dreamed she saw the lion sharpen his claw.
As for the fruit, it had no taste at all.
They had been warned of what was bound to happen.
They had been told of something called the world.
They had been told and told about the wall.
They saw it now; the gate was standing open.
As they advanced, the giant wings unfurled.

__________


Note: I came across this poem in a book by Philip Levine ( The Bread of Time). Levine describes a poetry class he took with John Berryman (his most important teacher) in the mid-1950s. Donald Justice, also in the group, wrote the poem as an assignment for the class (!)--he was then in his mid-twenties...