-- The Need to Imagine --

By John Herlihy

The poet rose from an emptiness,

Out of an urgent need to imagine.

A being, a seer, born in an absence,

To speak a language he can fathom.

We all have secret desires,

Even those that remain hidden.

The poet’s thought inspires,

Verses that come unbidden.

The poet shapes language awoken,

Beauty and love not come to by reason.

More like a vapor, a dream spoken,

Enchantment found in a fifth season.

The endless shifting sands of a mosaic,

The poem as fragments to bow, blend.

 Touch of madness or simply poetic,

Words once spoken, the poem at an end.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Saturday 26 May 2023