Will it last? he says. <br />Is it a masterpiece? <br />Will generation after generation <br />Turn with reverence to the page? <br /> <br />Birdseye scholar of the frozen fish, <br />What would he make of the sole, clean, clear <br />Leap of the salmon that has disappeared? <br /> <br />To be, yes!--whether they like it or not! <br />But not to last when leap and water are forgotten, <br />A plank of standard pinkness in the dish. <br /> <br />They also live <br />Who swerve and vanish in the river.<br /><br />Archibald MacLeish<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-snowflake-which-is-now-and-hence-forever/
