“Imagination transforms one substance into another. It changes what is into what might be, what was into what might have been. Straw becomes gold, gold straw, and neither is more real nor, I submit, more precious than the other. Pebbles turn into luminous pearls and pearls into little gray rocks, both solid and beautiful, both essential. Human beings take shape from clay, angels' wings are spun out of water, fire gives rise to the long tongues of demons, love emerges out of thin air, and the basic elements reconstitute themselves again and again.” GivingHumansLittlesLongHas BeensRealMightBeautifulTurnsWaterImaginationHuman BeingsFireAirRocksShapesEssentialsElementsAngelGoldWingsTongueSubstanceDemonGraySubmitAgain And AgainPearlsMight Have BeenClayLuminousStrawsPebblesSpunThin AirAngel Wings Book:The Man on the Ceiling Source: The Man on the Ceiling
“Blow, bugles of battle, the marches of peace; East, west, north, and south let the long quarrel cease; Sing the song of great joy that the angels began, Sing the glory to God and of good-will to man!” MenLongJoySongBattleGloryAngelWestSouthBlowEastCeaseChristmasMarchQuarrelsGood WillGlory Of GodGreat JoyNorth And South Book:Poems of John Greenleaf Whittier Source: Poems of John Greenleaf Whittier
“History has tongues Has angels has guns has saved has praised Today proclaims Achievements of her exiles long returned Now no more rootless, for whom her printed page Glazes their bruised waste years in one Balancing present sky.” YearsLongTodaySkyWasteAchievementPagesGunAngelTongueSavedExilePrintedBruised Book:New Collected Poems of Stephen Spender Source: New Collected Poems of Stephen Spender