from *The Norton Anthology of Poetry*

Kenneth Koch *Permanently*

"One day the Nouns were clustered in the street.
An adjective walked by, with her dark beauty.
The Nouns were struck, moved, changed.
The next day a Verb drove up, and created the Sentence.

Each sentence says one thing- for example, "Although it was a dark rainy day
when the Adjective walked by, I shall remember the pure and sweet
expression on her face until the day I perish from the green, effective
earth."
Or, "Will you please close the window, Andrew?"
Or, for example, "Thank you, the pink pot of flowers on the window sill has
changed color recently to a light yellow, due to the heat from the boiler
factory which exists nearby."

In the springtime the Sentences and Noun lay silently on the grass.
A lonely Conjunction here and there would call, "And! But!"
But the adjective did not emerge.

As the adjective is lost in the sentence,
So I am lost in your eyes, ears, nose and throat-
You have enchanted me with a single kiss
Which can never be undone
Until the destruction of language."