A Tale
A Tale
Original Text
Louise Bogan, Body of this Death: Poems (New York: Robert M. McBride, 1923): 1. PS 3503 O195 B66 1923 Robarts Library.
2Of waters in a land of change.
3He goes to see what suns can make
5He cuts what holds his days together
6And shuts him in, as lock on lock:
7The arrowed vane announcing weather,
8The tripping racket of a clock;
9Seeking, I think, a light that waits
10Still as a lamp upon a shelf, --
11A land with hills like rocky gates
12Where no sea leaps upon itself.
13But he will find that nothing dares
14To be enduring, save where, south
15Of hidden deserts, torn fire glares
16On beauty with a rusted mouth, --
17Where something dreadful and another
18Look quietly upon each other.
Notes
1] Bogan placed this poem at the beginning of all her collected poems. Back to Line
4] indurate: hard, obdurate. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1921
Publication Notes
New Republic 29 (Dec. 21, 1921)
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 2000.
Rhyme