Conrad Keely

“or that writing a poem you can read to no one
is like dancing in the dark.”
― Ovid, The Poems of Exile: Tristia and the Black Sea Letters

“Poem Written in a Copy of Beowulf

At various times, I have asked myself what reasons
moved me to study, while my night came down,
without particular hope of satisfaction,
the language of the blunt-tongued Anglo-Saxons.

Used up by the years, my memory
loses its grip on words that I have vainly
repeated and repeated. My life in the same way
weaves and unweaves its weary history.

Then I tell myself: it must be that the soul
has some secret, sufficient way of knowing
that it is immortal, that its vast, encompassing
circle can take in all, can accomplish all.

Beyond my anxiety, beyond this writing,
the universe waits, inexhaustible, inviting.”
― Jorge Luis Borges

“If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.”
― George Bernard Shaw