Page 77
By Jack Joseph Smith
Waiting
The good greatness
And the clean pleasure
without purpose
of man
Is only wandering
in the clouds
In the air is very fine
in all ways
Yet with feet on the ground
Many times thought
makes it better
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
GPT
The poem contrasts airy purposelessness with the grounding pressure of having feet on the earth, suggesting that thought becomes better only when it remains tied to lived reality.
Its title matters. Waiting here is not passive; it is the state in which drifting ideals are tested against the ground.
Claude
Waiting. The clean pleasure without purpose of man is only wandering in the clouds. The air is very fine in all ways — yet with feet on the ground, many times thought makes it better. A half-erased pencil sketch at the foot.