PEER REVIEW ON A GRECIAN URN

Although I didn't

need to know,

I looked 

again, 

and sure 

enough, the clock

wore a face

of severe 

disfigurement. And then I 

double-checked, and the 

distance between 

here and there

appeared much more 

perilous,

uncivilized, and austere

than either 

cultivated here 

or idealized there. And then it hit me

between the eyes—the truth 

of today

is so savage

and wild
and raw—but 

sheer exhilaration

cannot 

even touch

what's beautiful, not 

by a long

or lovely

shot.