Poems on Flickr
Originally uploaded by romanlily.
From the Book of Rope
First, there is love. Secondly,
the square knot, a perfect binding
of two equal loops, useful
for fastening gifts to each other
or, in the extreme, for closing bandages
over wounds, expected or not.
The sheet bend hooks unequal partners,
originally a rope to the twisted end
of a sail, something fastened against wind.
The bowline's loop won't close, good
for saving yourself in mountain climbing,
or, in general, being lifted up, lowered.
Hitches bind us to things, thwarting
our drift, boat to tree, a horse to any rail—
two half hitches, hundreds of half hitches.
In the book of rope, three tests
for every knot—is it easy to tie?
Will it stay tied firmly in use,
and will it be, finally, easy to untie?
Which knot have we chosen?
And what else sadly should we know?
— Robert King
Romanlily has had the simple and stunning idea of pairing her photos with poems. Beautiful.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, November 15, 2005 at 10:30 am.
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