Chou Iris

I belong to those manifold Existences
Once known, or once suspected,
That exist no more for man.

Was it not well to flee
Into the boundless realms of legend
Lest man should bridle me?

Sometimes I am glimpsed by poets
Whose eyes have not been blinded
By the hell-bright lamps of cities,
Who have not sent their souls
To be devoured by robot minotaurs
In the infamous Labyrinths of steel and mortar.

I know the freedom of fantastic things,
Ranging in fantasy.
I leap and bound and run
Below another sun.
Was it not well to flee
Long, long ago, lest man should bridle me?