He came at night to each of us asleep <br />And trained us in the virtues we most lacked. <br />Me he admonished to return his stare <br />Correctly, without fear.Unless I could, <br />Unblinking, more and more incline <br />Toward a deep unblinkingness of his, <br />He would not let me rest.Outside <br />In the dark of the world, at the foot <br />Of the library steps, there lurked <br />A Mercury of rust, its cab half-lit. <br />(Two worldly forms who huddled there <br />Knew what they meant.I had no business <br /> <br />With the things they knew.Nor did I feel myself <br />Drawn back through Circulation into Reference, <br />Until I saw how blue I had become, by virtue <br />Of its five TVs, their monitors abuzz with is's <br /> <br />Etymologies...)<br /><br />Heather McHugh<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-father-of-the-predicaments/
