Page 405

By Jack Joseph Smith

Ancient The horror of her dying The mirror of her, being alive Nothing we know settles the soul Worse when the soul is gone There with having nothing. then we talk about power No man's hands tell me how to conduct business They think they are modern with their war; who has ever mentioned tyrants caring for their own,. and of course you remember when Omar Kiham said, each face and place is the same

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

This repeat of 'Ancient' keeps the same argument: grief, soul-loss, power, business, war, and care for one's own are not modern problems but recurring human failures.

The corrected tyrants line sharpens the poem's claim that modernity changes the costume more than the underlying violence.

Claude

''''Ancient' reprised -- horror / mirror of her dying and being alive. Modern wars as refusals to care for one's own. Omar Khayyam's 'each face and place is the same' quoted again.'''