(After Rilke) <br /> <br /> <br />We cannot know the indescribable face <br />Where the eyes like apples ripened. Even so, <br />His torso has a candelabra's glow, <br />His gaze, contained as in a mirror's grace, <br /> <br />Shines within it. Otherwise his breast <br />Would not be dazzling. Nor would you recognize <br />The smile that moves along his curving thighs, <br />There where love's strength is caught within its nest. <br /> <br />This stone would not be broken, but intact <br />Beneath the shoulders' flowing cataract, <br />Nor would it glisten like a stallion's hide, <br /> <br />Brimming with radiance from every side <br />As a star sparkles. Now it is dawn once more. <br />All places scrutinize you. You must be reborn.<br /><br />Delmore Schwartz<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/archaic-bust-of-apollo/
