Fames/Fama

Poemata XCV

even copyright / could not stop the sad descent / into mimicry.

We are by fame so famished now
 That knowing nothing never felt
  Or freedom lost so left enslaved
   To sorry rules which sorrow made;
Such music which by muse replied
 Impelled by craft, propelled of soul
  Tho' solitary troubled ear
   Thru' evil to a truth would come;
So memory a master is
 By ill nostalgia taken man
  That made to stand the symbols are
    An ark of copies, crafted not;
But stamped in stone if stone were hot
 In heaven heat will hold no tares
  And truth of knowledge nevermore
   Remain remembered, melt away;
And can a photocopy be
 As bright as once the words had shone?
  The shine of fame must follow them
   Yet though by now they're dimly known;
And to repeat a thrall I'll be
 In begging for my bread before;
   So fame extinguish ev'ry light
    And lay us all upon the floor.