intellect and will

“I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.”
Quoted by Antonio Gramsci who made famous Romain Rolland’s maxim “Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.”

There is no afterthought, no sunken realization
no bellweather moment of askew tangents
no riveting of starry eyed stony silences to
anchors of yore, anchors of near distance.

And there is the act, mere hint of an act that follows the consequence of the preceding one.

There is no mere dilly-dallying of clever aphorisms
no curvature of light loud enough to blind
no algorithm perverse enough to loop for
ever and no revelation of heaven in dust.

Yet there is the act, the sheer act of gutting out the innards of doom and making it right.