Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MENTOR, by RUTH HERSCHBERGER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MENTOR, by                    
First Line: Be strange, be strong, incontinent, be glum
Last Line: Of dying and loud crying comes, be not.
Subject(s): Advice; Friendship


Be strange, be strong, incontinent, be glum,
The varied village of emotion be.
Be grave and gay, be pleasant as an ax,
Be clever, and be crude as chastity.

Be rude, be true, devise the early tear,
Explain the emmet's laughter and be kind.
Be sweet, and tart, expose the hobbling heart.
When entering necessity, be blind.

Be fool, be sage, be critic of the age,
Be all the probable, the hill, the grot.
Be bread, be fruit, and when the ugly root
Of dying and loud crying comes, be not.




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