Even in the hands
of such a
parsimonious doctor,
form will still
degrade
and meaning
must concentrate—
if only due to time's
harsh-but-
vigorous erosion.
Such mutable things
as wheelbarrows
and chickens
might likely seem
superfluous
a chastened century later,
and will never escape
the omnipotence
of erasure.
If he somehow
knew then
all that we've
forgotten now,
his most profound
work, from beginning
to end,
might take up
one line
and read:
"so much depends."
