Broken Images

Enjoyed this one as posted at Five Branch Tree

In Broken Images--Robert Graves

He is quick, thinking in clear images;
I am slow, thinking in broken images.

He becomes dull, trusting to his clear images;
I become sharp, mistrusting my broken images.

Trusting his images, he assumes their relevance;
Questioning their relevance, I question the fact.

When the fact fails him, he questions his senses;
When the fact fails me, I approve my senses.

He continues quick and dull in his clear images;
I continue slow and sharp in my broken images.

He in a new confusion of his understanding;
I in a new understanding of my confusion.


This poem is similar to the title of my dad's book "Broken Image: Foreign Critiques of America," a compilation of historical writings and criticisms on US culture and politics, but I've never seen this poem before, and I can't ask Dad since he's no longer alive if one inspired the other. But it's an interesting juxtaposition.