Marsden Hartley

“Fishmonger

I have taken scales from off
The cheeks of the moon.
I have made fins from bluejays’ wings,
I have made eyes from damsons in the shadow.
I have taken flushes from the peachlips in the sun.
From all these I have made a fish of heaven for you,
Set it swimming on a young October sky.
I sit on the bank of the stream and watch
The grasses in amazement
As they turn to ashy gold.
Are the fishes from the rainbow
Still beautiful to you,
For whom they are made,
For whom I have set them,
Swimming?”
― Marsden Hartley

“What have we all, we
who have nothing left but longing to be free
of our lashed satiety.”
― Marsden Hartley, The Collected Poems of Marsden Hartley