Vessel

They say my poems should reflect my mind
Even if indirectly, but I know
That is not how my poems are designed
For they conceal far more than they can show.
Indeed, when I feel fast they're often slow,
But when I need to stop they fly along;
Yet do not think they're opposite - they go
Exactly how they please, rightly or wrong,
And tell me how to tune them, for the song
Is never so much mine as sung through me:
I am the mere vibrations in the gong
Which make the sound, but do so mindlessly
As if some greater hand had struck the beat
Which my expression merely will complete.