The Poet Poem by Sidi Mahtrow

'The poet understands
that the mast of a ship,
the gallows, and
the cross are made
of different wood.

He understands
the difference
between the stone
from a church wall
and the stone
from a prison wall.

He hears
'the voices of stones, '
understands the whisperings
of ancient walls,
of tumuli,
of mountains, rivers,
woods and plains.

He hears
'the voice of the silence, '
understands the psychological difference
between silences,
knows that one silence
can differ from another,

And this poetical understanding
of the world should be developed,
strengthened and fortified,
because only by its aid do
we come in contact with
the true world of reality.'

Peter Demianovich Ouspensky, Tertium Organum Alfred A. Knopf, New York,1955, pp 144. (As translated from the Russian by Micholas Bessaraboff and Claude Bragdon)