By dark severance the apparition head br Smiles from the air a capital on no br Column or a Platonic perhaps head br On a canvas sky depending from nothing; br br Stirs up an old illusion of grandeur br By tickling the instinct of heads to be br Absolute and to try decapitation br And to play truant from the body bush; br br But too happy and beautiful for those sorts br Of head (homekeeping heads are happiest) br Discovers maybe thirty unwidowed years br Of not dishonoring the faithful stem; br br Is nameless and has authored for the evil br Historian headhunters neither book br Nor state and is therefore distinct from tart br Heads with crowns and guilty gallery heads; br br Wherefore the extravagant device of art br Unhousing by abstraction this once head br Was capital irony by a loving hand br That knew the no treason of a head like this; br br Makes repentance in an unlovely head br For having vinegarly traduced the flesh br Till, the hurt flesh recusing, the hard egg br Is shrunken to its own deathlike surface; br br And an image thus. The body bears the head br (So hardly one they terribly are two) br Feeds and obeys and unto please what end? br Not to the glory of tyrant head but to br br The estate of body. Beauty is of body. br The flesh contouring shallowly on a head br Is a rock-garden needing body's love br And best bodiness to colorify br br The big blue birds sitting and sea-shell cats br And caves, and on the iron acropolis br To spread the hyacinthine hair and rear br The olive garden for the nightingales.