Willing River Of Love
© Surazeus
2026 04 20

Crawling from coffin of his character,
Delmore explains to Queen Elizabeth
that he is Phoenix of the broken clock,
reborn from jester of the hungry king
with mission to rebuild castle of glass
where time is the fire in which we learn.

Searching for innocent ghost of Rimbaud
lost in dark labyrinth of Gormenghast,
Delmore steals lute from tomb of Romeo,
then sings old French ballads to passing cars
that cross the Brooklyn Bridge in bitter rain
while Sinatra croons on the radio.

Crouching behind shield of Achilles Christ
to protect us from radiant nothingness,
Delmore cries out to angels in the clouds
who drop bombs on factories in Germany,
then tames the undivided horse of faith
so he can ride the last road back to Rome.

Lounging in cobwebbed tomb of Baudelaire,
Delmore tears pages from his bank account
while catching stones people cast at his head
so he can build new wall for paradise
that traps obsessive ghost of his childhood
in Garden of Eden where none can rest.

Paralyzed by impotence of strange hymns,
that twists his rigid heart with wordless wrath,
Delmore writes unreadable spells of hope
in cafe near post office of mad kings,
asking Socrates for money of faith,
enough to last till the apocalypse.

Baptized clean in willing river of love,
Delmore waits in Black Swan Pavilion
for serene exaltation of the mind
to liberate his body from disgust
through brave emulation of divine lust,
yet names the dead in the Kingdom of Snow.

Directing grand choir of humanity
to sing solemn hymns of empty dismay
that celebrate victory of true love
which shines in us before the morning hour
so we become aloneness of fruit trees,
Delmore plays instruments of ancient song.

Walking calmly through day of April light
to find his Self amid the blaze of change,
Delmore writes new Book of Theodicy
to prove with formula of tangled verse
that goodness conquers evil every day,
till his heart explodes during his swan song.

surazeus.blogspot.com/2026/04/…

Orpheus and Delmore Schwartz stroll the streets of Manhattan after midnight, chasing the ghost of Rimbaud through maze of the Inferno.

#Poetry #Poem #Pastoral #Necropastoral #MetaModernism #Transrealism #NewSublimity #NewRomanticism #AmericanDream #Cinemism #Existentialism #Surrealism #NegativeCapability #NewGnosticism #MetaRealism #NewTranscendentalism #Astarism