WHAT IS DIVINE

Byron picks up a pen
and critics say
he is like the madmen
with ten fold oracles
of the Romans or Greeks
when he begins to dare
and challenge language
from the knowledge
of Whitman, Dickinson
Plath, Lowell or John Clare
whose verse retells
and reaches out to teach
each generation of our children
to be beware of entering
in the tents of a poet's station
while they pursue wisdom
as seers on a variant path
contented by human virtue
is their own valiant singing
for the freedom of their nation
and those like Byron
are truly universal
those few daringly born
convinced that their soul
is bringing all them closer
for a miracle of a universal soul
amid the hours of a new creation
for a peek at the finishing line
from a veiled goal and laurel
captures the sudden divine
away from the choice
of sword ,scalpel and strife
and in a word above all quarrel
in palpable mirth, harmony,and love
like Sarah, Esther and Mary
who chose the raptures of life
there is no limit to ring
a bell, sound a drum
or play timpani, flute or fife
yet to sing the vibrato of a chorus
of some heavenly birds above us
assuming an alto or soprano voice
without regret to fulfill a choice
of posturing to be anonymous
and agree to an angelic symphony
consuming as a bold composer
or a kick start jazz musician
or a virtuous philosopher
to empower us in a miracle
as anointed oil pours out
yet who liberally moves from
the prism of hard clay
of his bard's mortal coil
from an ancient potter's dream
of a taut stone wheel
for Byron was a keen listener
yet caught at the city of Ur
on highways and islets
at a finishing line for freedom
emboldened in Mesopotamia
the poet sinks into a hungry sleep
and puts up his feet
as Keats in his "Lamia"
by a tree aviary with honey bees
wakes in a day dreams of diadems
in bejeweled crowns
worn for his marathon verse
wishing to be a revolutionary
for Byron is for the Grecian cause
sounding as if in training not a culprit
or a warring criminal or accuser
but as a lover of humanity
by just writing
underground notes in his diary
now he imagines going toward
the country's scaffold prison
when his politics of freedom
goes forward to universal suffrage
will some day arise from Styx,
and Greece like Jason's fleece
will be released as a bas- relief
in an artful secret verse's billfold,
for Byron's heavy instilling anguish
is coldly maimed in a traffic of grief
his business in life
will be enrolling him
with a cleverly rewarded love
and justice consoling the nations
will shine above on a newly coined
name given forever as "Byronism"
gladly consoling us in declaration
as a thrilling new April leaf
appears in a spring jardiniere
and yet some people still laugh
by joining the crowd to dismiss us
in our earthly metamorphosis
wishing we were only after
what is divine madness
in a still life of disbelief.