The Sassoon Collection: x. Particle Show
The Sassoon Collection
x. Particle Show
AND still they come and go: and this is all I know—
That from the mind I watch an endless particle-show,
Where wild and listless forces flicker on their way,
With charged and uncharged parts from small stringy strands
Because all spin so fast, and they’ve no place to stay
Beyond the frozen image of imagined lands.
And still, between the shadow and the image made,
The first desire of all of us flings onward, ever betrayed
As in those stimulant years that weight them, and have passed:
All minds must grasp these particles dancing much too fast.
– Zumwalt (2011)
Copyright © 2011
For the entire set, please visit: https://zumpoems.com/2012/02/29/the-sassoon-collection/
This is the tenth and final poem of the series, based on the title poem of Siegfried Sassoon’s 1920 collection of 40 of his poems.
PICTURE-SHOW
And still they come and go: and this is all I know—
That from the gloom I watch an endless picture-show,
Where wild or listless faces flicker on their way,
With glad or grievous hearts I’ll never understand
Because Time spins so fast, and they’ve no time to stay
Beyond the moment’s gesture of a lifted hand.
And still, between the shadow and the blinding flame,
The brave despair of men flings onward, ever the same
As in those doom-lit years that wait them, and have been…
And life is just the picture dancing on a screen.
Whereas Sassoon begins his collection with this poem, Zumwalt ends his ten-poem tribute to Sassoon with a reflection on matter, energy, and time.
