Page 68

By Jack Joseph Smith

Influance Let us go with all the great writers Which about this title are what matter Way back, we know when it started Thoughts on paper, script upon a tree Line them down on a scrol Roll it up and put it in the hand of Christ For did not Jesus stay within them all I will not start You know them by heart In the stream of seconds You have listened until I have been done I think he has the best draft With them all put together The great lines Maybe cause He is the only one alone

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The speaker gathers great writers onto a scroll placed in Christ's hand and imagines him holding their best draft together.

The poem treats literary inheritance through a religious image, while the listener already knows the writers by heart. It names no specific authors or quotations.

Claude

'Influance' joins 'all the great writers', imagines their lines rolled up and put 'in the hand of Christ', asks 'For did not Jesus stay within them all', and ends 'Maybe cause He is the only one alone'.

The poem treats Christ as the best author of all writing; scrol and the heading's Influance are kept as typed.