• Skip to main content

Aesthetic Realism Online Library

Home > Poetry > Poems by Eli Siegel

Poetry of Eli Siegel

Meant To Be

Consider, friends, how lovingly,

One thing meets another:

As for instance, kitten a kitten,

Leaf a leaf,

Book a book,

Or planet a thing.

Consider how this can go on,

Indefinitely, in any time,

Let alone all time.

Consider, friends, the impermanence of obstruction,

The friendliness and everlastingness of possibility,

And such matters:

And you will alter a little

The irritation of long ago,

Question its authenticity,

And use the past

To be refreshed,

As it was meant to be—

Used now.

From Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana: Poems (Definition Press)
© 1957 by Eli Siegel

Eli Siegel on Beauty
Author’s Bio
Anthropology & Aesthetics
US Congressional Record
Book Store

Stay in touch

Receive email alerts for each new issue of The Right Of, and announcements of events at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation.

Subscribe

Follow us:   

Contact Us Support Our Work

Aesthetic Realism Foundation
141 Greene Street
New York, NY 10012
tel 212.777.4490

Copyright © 1997-2025 Aesthetic Realism Foundation

MENU
  • Home
  • Periodical (TRO)
    • Current Issue
    • Drama & Acting
    • Literature & Poetry
    • Love
    • Mind
    • Music
    • Teaching Method
    • The Visual Arts
    • Archive
  • Poetry
    • Poems by Eli Siegel
      • Short Poems
      • Civil War Poems
    • Translations with Notes
    • Poets: Their Lives & Works
    • What Poetry Really Is
    • The Critical Muse
    • Critics Speak
    • A Celebration of Poetry
    • Poetry of Martha Baird
  • Books
  • Essays
  • Lectures
  • Definitions
  • Reviews
  • News Archive
    • Educational Method
    • Love & the Family
    • Art & Life
    • More Issues of Our Time
  • The Eli Siegel Collection
  • Aesthetic Realism Fdn.
  • Terrain Gallery