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Sleep now, Alone in the sleeves of grief, Listening to clothes falling And your flesh touching God...
Brian Patten -
How long is a man’s life, finally? Is it a thousand days, or only one? One week, or a few centuries? How long does a man’s death last? And what do we mean when we say, ‘gone forever’?
Brian Patten
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When in public poetry should take off its clothes and wave to the nearest person in sight; it should be seen in the company of thieves and lovers rather than that of journalists and publishers.
Brian Patten -
On sighting mathematicians poetry should unhook the algebra from their minds and replace it with poetry; on sighting poets it should unhook poetry from their minds and replace it with algebra.
Brian Patten -
Isolation disfigures men Who think their separateness superior.
Brian Patten -
I reach into you to reach all mankind, And the deeper into you I reach The deeper glows elsewhere the world And sings of you. It says, To love is the one common miracle.
Brian Patten -
So many partings in the mind the heart Has not had the courage to follow through.
Brian Patten -
Through silence only the good messages go unheard.
Brian Patten