Marianne Moore




To A Stiff-winged Grasshopper

As I unfolded its wings, 
      in examining it for the first time,
          I forgot the war:
              I thought I had discovered something. Then I discovered
                  That others, also, thought they had discovered something.
                       We stood like the snake swallowing its tail, comprising a ring.

  Superstition forges rings
        Of iron. A ring is the most extreme form
           Of symbol. Rings mar
               The symmetry of loyal regard: we philosophized:
                    And said we could not have been acts in anyone's ring.
                        Had it not been inevitable in the case of this thing.