8/16/2019 Kenneth Rexroth - Cesar Palma

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THEY SAY THIS ISN’T A POEM 

I 

All that is is a harmony,

Otherwise it would not endure.

Harmony of the parts with the whole

Is the definition of goodness.

Therefore all that is is good.

Man is part of all that is, so

He is part of its harmony.

Therefore he is by nature good.

Insofar as he knows what is,

He knows it because he is

Within himself a harmonyOf parts in a whole, of the same

ind as all that is. Therefore,

The harmony of all that is

Without man can unite with

The harmony of all that is

Within man as a knowable

!ood, an inner moral good.

"ut if this good is known within

"y one party, man, it mustAlso be known by the other

#arty, All That Is, hence he who

Is in perfect accord with All

That Is can act upon It

Without effort, with a kind

Of reciprocity, like acts

Of the mutual lo$e of friends.

How beautiful and specious

And how stinking with the blood

Of wars and crucifi%ions.

II 

The order of the uni$erse

Is only a reflection

Of the human will and reason.

8/16/2019 Kenneth Rexroth - Cesar Palma

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All being is contingent,

&o being is self'subsistent.

All ob(ects are mo$ed by others.

&o ob(ect mo$es itself.

All beings are caused by others.

&o being is its own cause.There is no perfect being.

"eing has no economy.

)ntities are multiplied

Without necessity. They

Ha$e no sufficient reason.

The only order of nature

Is the orderly relation

Of one person to another.

&on'personal relations

Are by nature chaotic.

#ersonal relations are

The pattern through which we see

&ature as systematic.

Homer, and all sensible

Men since, ha$e told us again

And again, the uni$erse *

The great principles and forces

That mo$e the world * ha$e order

Only as a reflection

Of the courage, loyalty,

+o$e, and honesty of men.

"y themsel$es they are cruel

And utterly fri$olous.

The man who yields to them goes mad,

ills his child, his wife or friend

And dies in the bloody dust,

Ha$ing destroyed the treasured

+abor of other mens hands.He who outwits them sur$i$es

To grow old in his own home.