My Friend Pascal

By Jack Joseph Smith

Michael long ago Perhaps it was sixteen sixty six But then he would have been two, when you knew me and I knew you A sophisticated wildness Your courtyard, a window through which one looked Hands as waves; a finger point as a jib Sailor's skimming and skirting, their mannor, and there still, I would see your serious smile Though so far away These are times I realize as close up as back then, as a distinquished reality

Now the damage of my adventure Has me torn from time With a vision always unaccomplished My juristiction having me no more, than standing upright Remembering so long ago, truth is that which is so My friend Pascal

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The speaker addresses Pascal through a courtyard, hands compared to waves, a finger point compared to a jib, and a remembered serious smile. On the second page the speaker names the damage of adventure and an unaccomplished vision, then returns to truth and friendship.

The speaker preserves the closeness of remembered times despite distance. Michael and the proposed date sixteen sixty six remain unexplained, so they cannot identify a historical Pascal or establish a biography.

Claude

The speaker recalls 'Michael long ago', a date guessed as 'sixteen sixty six' and corrected with 'But then he would have been two,', a courtyard window, sailing gestures and 'your serious smile' felt 'as a distinquished reality'. The second page names 'the damage of my adventure' and 'My juristiction having me no more, / than standing upright', and ends 'truth is that which is so / My friend Pascal'.

Playful chronology makes memory itself the subject, and sailing images give remembered gestures motion. The poem does not establish who Pascal is; it closes on a flat definition of truth addressed to a friend. Source spellings such as 'mannor', 'distinquished' and 'juristiction' are kept.