American Poetry 1922/Impromptu
IMPROMPTU
My mind is a puddle in the street reflecting green Sirius;
In thick dark groves trees huddle lifting their branches like beckoning hands.
We eat the grain, the grain is death, all goes back to the earth's dark mass,
All but a song which moves across the plain like the wind's deep-muttering breath.
Bowed down upon the earth, man sets his plants and watches for the seed,
Though he be part of the tragic pageant of the sky, no heaven will aid his mortal need.
I find flame in the dust, a word once uttered that will stir again,
And a wine-cup reflecting Sirius in the water held in my hands.
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 1977, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 46 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.
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