"The Thinker", aka "The Poet" or Dante, From "The Gates of Hell" by Auguste Rodin The Thinker

Upon my desktop sits a man,
stone frozen in time's falling sand;
With heart of plaster, skin of black,
and rippled muscles front and back.

Deep in thought upon my desk,
his bum upon a rock is pressed;
Right elbow poked into left thigh,
with downward, heavy glance of eye.

This statuesque man wears no clothes,
but strikes a well-known mortal pose,
of deepest, thoughtful contemplation,
of the human situation.

Within my mind's eye he is me,
and I am him, and we are we;
We're always thinking, he and I,
where when, and what, and how and why.

Found in Nagoya quite by chance,
but his deep roots lie back in France;
For he's a copy of the man,
produced by Auguste Rodin's hand.

I Think...
Cecil Williams     5/5/93
***************************