The Mind Is an Enchanting Thing
The Mind Is an Enchanting Thing
Marianne Moore
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is an enchanted thing
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like the glaze on a
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katydid-wing
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subdivided by sun
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till the nettings are legion.
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Like Gieseking playing Scarlatti;
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like the apteryx-awl
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as a beak, or the
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kiwi's rain-shawl
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of haired feathers, the mind
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feeling its way as though blind,
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walks along with its eyes on the ground.
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It has memory's ear
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that can hear without
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having to hear.
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Like the gyroscope's fall,
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truly unequivocal
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because trued by regnant certainty,
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it is a power of
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strong enchantment. It
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is like the dove-
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neck animated by
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sun; it is memory's eye;
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it's conscientious inconsistency.