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“The Prejudice Against The Past” by Wallace Stevens 🇺🇸 (2 Oct 1879 – 2 Aug 1955)
Day is the children’s friend.
It is Marianna’s Swedish cart.
It is that and a very big hat.
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Confined by what they see,
Aquiline pedants treat the cart,
As one of the relics of the heart.
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They treat the philosopher’s hat,
Left thoughtlessly behind,
As one of the relics of the mind …
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Of day, then, children make
What aquiline pedants take
For souvenirs of time, lost time,
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Adieux, shapes, images—
No, not of day, but of themselves,
Not of perpetual time.
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And, therefore, aquiline pedants find
The philosopher’s hat to be part of the mind,
The Swedish cart to be part of the heart.