“For when words cease to cling close to things, kingdoms fall, empires wane and diminish.” – Ezra Pound
This week The Drifter offers a twenty-three-line poem because that’s what occurred – or arrived. In the unlikely event that anyone out there wants more “Drifter” today, I advise perusing this pome (not a typo) a multitude of times. This is not an article from The New York Daily Bullshit with a tag on it saying, “2 min read.” Reading this piece very, very, very, very, very, very, very slowly (aloud, or inside) is the recommended method – a form of medicine. I here predict (and if I’m wrong, I won’t know it, or care) that this one will be around for a while.
In the title, “Beauty” is a name, as in the old French legend, “Beauty and the Beast.”
This piece contains the past and the present, and has eyes on the future, in a writing where hundreds of things are deliberately hidden within every line.
And: age, does it not sneak up on us like a thief in the night?
With sincerity,
The Drifter
April 30, 2026 AD, 11:33 AM
The Heaven of Beauty
When I thought of your long red silver hair
and how many years it’s been that I haven’t seen it
blowing in the wind,
I was surprised, and almost shocked,
and I couldn’t believe that it was almost May again.
May,
month of dying
purple lilac petals in Berwyn,
another chance, a thawing of the heart, a re-resolution,
despite all.
May,
a sinking of the heart, a re-realization,
a too-real realization, and a knowing, that nothing,
like us, does not last forever.
And May,
telling me
there will be
another summer
of a different kind
Somewhere Else
somewhere down the line
one of these
lifetimes.
The Drifter
Saragun Springs 
Drifter
The month of May has a strange reality to it that changes with age. It used to be a magic time, the end of the school year…then, well nothing.
Nowadays it is the “speed bump” time in which you remember that it was just New Years Day!
I still have to read the ‘pome’ again. Any comment on that would be unfairly superficial.
But you are right about the “dying time.” There has always been that feeling for me.
You are thoughtful again!
P.S. that Pound quote is utterly profound
Leila
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Hi Leila
Thanks for focusing on the Pound quotation because, in a world where so much has already been said and written I really do consider my quotations to be more than just “quotations,” more like voices from beyond the grave spoken by very specific, already-well-rounded characters.
Everything has already been said by someone somewhere, and yet, every generation also needs to say it again themselves in their own way, or the thing/s Ezra talked about in the quote will also happen.
That’s why Ezra also famously said: “MAKE IT NEW.” He wasn’t only talking to his own generation when he said that.
I also have a fascination with Pound’s collaboration/s with his friend, H.D. They didn’t actually collaborate as in write things together too much, but they did collaborate in lots of other literary ways, editorially and so forth.
Thanks again!
Dale
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Heartfelt and heart-breaking. The May motif works well. Lovely imagery (“purple lilacs in Berwyn,” nice internal rhyme). “…somewhere down the line one of these lifetimes” is a strong closing. Very nice.
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Thank you, David!
You are a fine craftsman of the written word with a great eye and I appreciate your analysis, support and commentary. You also have a heart or you wouldn’t be able to feel the heartbroken heartfelt nature of this at all, and I appreciate that perhaps most of all!
Dale
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Melancholy and wistful – full of yearning – just really lovely. dd
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Hi Diane
You are sensitive to beauty which means you have a fine sensibility. I appreciate your continued support, both as commentator and as, literally, Literally Editor. Thanks again for everything!
Dale
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Let’s leave the Casa Pound folk to their nonsense & get a fresher blast of Ezra via The Drifter. (A whole other study ripe for probing: E.P. & H.D.) This poem poised & thoughtful – with an ending fit to make a fine title: ‘One of These Lifetimes’. As E.P. said, “Literature is news that stays news.” Your bulletins, Drifter, are a case in point.
Geraint
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Thank you, Geraint!
Still thinking about your character study of Michelangelo…
Dale
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Hi Drifter
“And: age, does it not sneak up on us like a thief in the night?” This line prepared the way.
The spring of youth isn’t calling anymore–evermore. That’s what came to me reading this poem.
Regrets and life anew. Life anew is sad when you’re aging.
“a sinking of the heart, a re-realization,” Like cinders raining down, again.
There is a wondrous gloom that one doesn’t associate with May, but you’ve pulled this off, with an expert way of words that reminds me of how EA Poe sets the mood.
I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything that has taken the “hope springs eternal” and shown May to be “Dying.” That’s bold and somehow anti-creation… The horror…
Time passing and a life that can’t be undone hits home pretty hard, even so, It’s very pleasant to read. Which is a credit to the writer.
Quite original. Man you are a true poet!
CJA
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CJA
You are, truly, an absolute master of the short story; as well as an essayist, a commentator, a correspondent, a photographer, and a visual artist. And you are, absolutely, a brilliant LITERARY CRITIC as well.
The literary critic has two key jobs. Reject what’s not good (even if they never say so) and EMBRACE what is good. Your ability to understand, connect with, and express the nuances of poetry is sheer genius.
AI says that a poet is an eternal and blind optimist with a lifelong relationship to melancholy and death who’s also a distanced yet close observer of the world who can see (and feel) what others cannot see (nor feel). AI is an idiot and a moron much of the time (and he has zero human understanding, in truth, at all, BECAUSE it doesn’t have any emotion/s) but sometimes “he” (or she) gets it right.
You are also a poet!
D
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Hi Drifter
Thanks I appreciate it!
That’s kind of a deep AI quote. I’ve never really deviled into what type of characteristics make up a poet.
If you “AI” search your name it will tell you what kind of a writer you are. Probably based on publications and comments.
I had the weirdest thing happen. I googled my name (sounds self absorbed–I know), and my Story “Still Speaking” came up and here’s What it said…
Still Speaking by Christopher Ananias
Aug 25, 2025 — One of the worst writers who ever lived. Nothing short of a horrendous blabbermouth who destroys language with every word he utters, whether it …Read more (ouch!)
This is a direct quote from the comments, instead of a brief description of the story. AND this you will find disturbing I’ll post the whole part below. This was highlighted in purple…
“One of the worst writers who ever lived. Nothing short of a horrendous blabbermouth who destroys language with every word he utters, whether it be in a post on “Truth Social” or straight from the horse’s mouth.”
Google search has taken a comment that you, our very own DWB wrote about “The Fat Man” and used it to somehow attack my writing. I might be paranoid but I think some Google Trumper or Google Trumper AI purposely did this.
I Googled “Still Speaking” and as you would expect , it described the story.
But when I google my name the other lousy description comes up, lol!
I just figured I would let you know because they have done us both wrong.
CJA
PS I filed a complaint to Google saying it was misleading…
I don’t know if it’s just my computer this happens on or if when you type Christopher Ananias it comes up on every computer? Probably does…
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PS: Not that your description was lousy at all–It perfectly described the Fat Man. It’s just the way they used it out of context.
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