Jump to content

Sword Blades and Poppy Seed/A Blockhead

From Wikisource
Listen to this text, read by Ken Masters (0.69MB, help | file info or download)
1904132Sword Blades and Poppy Seed — A BlockheadAmy Lowell

Before me lies a mass of shapeless days,
 Unseparated atoms, and I must
 Sort them apart and live them. Sifted dust
Covers the formless heap. Reprieves, delays,
There are none, ever. As a monk who prays
 The sliding beads asunder, so I thrust
 Each tasteless particle aside, and just
Begin again the task which never stays.
 And I have known a glory of great suns,
When days flashed by, pulsing with joy and fire!
Drunk bubbled wine in goblets of desire,
 And felt the whipped blood laughing as it runs!
Spilt is that liquor, my too hasty hand
Threw down the cup, and did not understand.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1925, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 98 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse