Words for the Chisel (collection)/Tale of the Wife and the Welder
Tale of the Wife and the Welder
Once a great welder gave a woman his lonely
Cold iron dreams to hang upon her only
And decked the fragile woman with a great chain.
Cold iron dreams to hang upon her only
And decked the fragile woman with a great chain.
She wears his madness mingled with his pain
Arches and preens,—O she is very vain!
Arches and preens,—O she is very vain!
Dreams are too much for sober women to carry,
But she,—she wears his passion with a pride
Like a little slender jewel-laden bride. . . .
But she,—she wears his passion with a pride
Like a little slender jewel-laden bride. . . .
Of all rare women, what a woman to marry!
She likes her rôle. . . . He's part satisfied.
She's a good peg to hang his anguish on,
So suave she sits, so dutiful, so very
Nice, with no notion where his wits have gone.
She likes her rôle. . . . He's part satisfied.
She's a good peg to hang his anguish on,
So suave she sits, so dutiful, so very
Nice, with no notion where his wits have gone.
She looks so winsome, he so gaunt and weary;
So arch and flighty,—he so worn and wan.
She's all alert, and he, how heavy-eyed!
But still together, still they struggle on,
And so she journeys, jangling at his side!
So arch and flighty,—he so worn and wan.
She's all alert, and he, how heavy-eyed!
But still together, still they struggle on,
And so she journeys, jangling at his side!
Tons settle on her, being welded from
Metal that clanks and snow that tightens numb,
Both shaped and beaten down to look the same
Out of fierce elements no other man could tame. . . .
Metal that clanks and snow that tightens numb,
Both shaped and beaten down to look the same
Out of fierce elements no other man could tame. . . .
Around her tiny throat in captured form
The tempest writhes and on her back, the storm.
The tempest writhes and on her back, the storm.