A beautiful poem by a perspicacious poet, Michael Collings, known as micol on Allpoetry.com. ...

On the Inefficacy of Poetry

Why would I capture wings a-fire
    In sunset’s gilding glare;
Why would I compass the redwood’s pyre        
    Against a dawning flare; 

Or in sound re-create a mica-flash
    That stutters stark granite walls;
Or a violet’s glint on a window sash
    As the westering sun-stare falls;

Or riotous roses restrain within ink,
    In blunt-word black-on-white;
Struggle to limn ripe apricots’ pink,
    A falling leaf’s whimsical kite?

Yet still I pursue the mockingbird’s strain,
  Silk currents, unfettered and wild;
I struggle … and ever despair to attain
  The pure vision by which I’m beguiled.

by Michael R. Collings, a published writer and poet, Professor Emeritus of Pepperdine University -- with books available on Amazon.com and Wildside Press.  He can be found at http://Allpoetry.com/micol