Though
we are not yet one
We
rest without words
Warm
flesh joined by common sweat
Though
we are not yet one
Though
we are joined by words
Warm
sweat without common flesh
We
are not yet one
Though
we are joined by words
Though
we rest in warm sweat
Common
words without flesh
We
are not yet one
Though we rest in warm sweat
Though
we are not yet one
We
rest without words
Warm
flesh joined in common sweat
Though
we are not yet one.
The
similarities between traditional music composition and the composition of this
poem are obvious. Twenty-eight phonemes are used to create fifteen words. These
fifteen words are displaced, creating new phrases, as a composer would displace
notes to create new motifs. By re-ordering phrases new stanzas are created, as
a composer would re-order motifs to create new phrases.
Larger
scale formal similarities between musical composition can be seen too. Here the
arch form is used for each stanza and for the poem as a whole. There are four
stanzas, each of four lines with the first and last lines repeating. This is
reflected in the whole poem as well, the first and last stanzas also repeat.