The Ordinary Magic

 

His particular magic 

Would not set the sky ablaze,

Or heal the sick, or part the sea,

Or do anything much with snakes;

 

It was not given him

To divine the source of water,

See God in the entrails of a pigeon,

Summon rain to a dry land;

 

In fact, his magic 

Was not his at all,

But the common property 

Of common men:

 

The word,

As pure and elemental 

As fire and sea,

As the breath of God,

 

And which, laid into a certain sequence,

Could fire the mind, which is the only sky.