Modernist Verbs

Catching the. tones of voice at turn of tide;
Catching the metre in which minds confide;
Catching the breath as Europe tilted and the lives began to slide.

Cracking the mould to let the germins loose;
Cracking Buddha's repose; the Druids' truce;
Cracking the whip as sickles curtsey round the shock slumped in its
  noose.

Picking the flower called love-in-idleness;
...