Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SPRING IN NORTH CAROLINA (1938), by RUTH HANNAS



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SPRING IN NORTH CAROLINA (1938), by                    
First Line: Summer dead is best put out of sight
Last Line: In disembodied dream.
Subject(s): Spring


Summer dead is best put out of sight,
Fierce winters are kindest.
This gold that haunts a greening tree
Is insult at its blindest.

This forest died severally,
Preserving nationality,
The dogwood, maple, oak
Asserted separate vitality.

Colors tuned to accurate pitch
Sounded the last dirge,
Blended in willingness
Of full-throated purge.

The dead cannot bury themselves
Nor drop six feet to earth --
From such handicap divines
This gross obscenity of birth.

Water lies limp in the ravine;
No fierce awakening from ice
Thrills through tired veins
Born once but never twice.

This crowding of the womb
With life that cannot die --
This burden of past summers
Predicates a why

Of all classic beauties
Annihilation is supreme --
Winter that consumes itself
In disembodied dream.





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