But while success and failure depend on conditions, the mind neither waxes nor wanes.
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Remember: courage, unused, diminishes. Commitment, unexercised, wanes. Love, unshared, dissipates.
The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs the deep.
as the spirit wanes the form appears
Over time, passion wanes, differences don't.
Poetry never loses its appeal. Sometimes its audience wanes and sometimes it swells like a wave. But the essential mystery of being human is always going to engage and compel us. We're involved in a mystery. Poetry uses words to put us in touch with that mystery. We're always going to need it.
On one level, nothing's really changed in my life. I still drive my daughter in the car pool on Monday. But it's impossible not to be aware of this rush of attention; it's impossible not to be seduced by it once you've entered into it, seduced by being unhappy when the attention wanes.
