Wallace Stevens — Nuances of a Theme by Williams

It’s a strange courage you give me, ancient star: Shine alone in the sunrise toward which you lend no part! I Shine alone, shine nakedly, shine like bronze, that reflects neither my face nor any inner part of my being, shine like fire, that mirrors nothing. II Lend no part to any humanity that suffuses you in its own light. Be not chimera of morning, Half-man, half-star. Be not an intelligence, Like a widow’s bird Or an old horse.