Only a Smell Had Feelings to Make Known

Only a smell had feelings to make known,
Only an eye could point in a direction;
The fountain’s utterance was itself alone;
The bird meant nothing: that was his projection

Who named it as he hunted it for food.
He felt the interest in his throat, and found
That he could send his servant to the wood,
Or kiss his bride to rapture with a sound.

They bred like locusts till they hid the green
And edges of the world: and he was abject,
And to his own creation became subject;

And shook with hate for things he’d never seen,
And knew of love without love’s proper object,
And was oppressed as he had never been.