Let the Mountains Fall*

Mr. Collins
My unworthy eyes
Just read your new volume
The way a plebe
Reads a textbook
Or an apostle
The Holy Writ.

Mr. Collins
You shame me
With your pure
And simple words
Your mild verse
And easy symmetry
Of line.

Mr. Collins
So seamless
So naturally
Your thoughts
Gather to flow--
The ink
As blood
In your veins.

Mr. Collins
Your poetry
Compels me to
Secret away my own
Or offer them up
To heaven
As burnt sacrifice.

Mr. Collins
Should you ever find
These poor
Sniffling lines
Please hurry onto
Some other pursuit
More worthy
A master of language
And let
The mountains fall on me.


*My reaction upon reading Billy Collins 2013 collection of poems, titled Aimless Love. Buy it. Read it. Then never read me again.