Classic and Contemporary Poetry
RACE, by WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS Poet's Biography First Line: Leave me here those looks of yours! Last Line: Unto each that yet shall live. Alternate Author Name(s): Howells, W. D. Subject(s): Beauty; Race Awareness; Youth | ||||||||
I Leave me here those looks of yours! All those pretty airs and lures; Flush of cheek and flash of eye; Your lips' smile and their deep dye; Gleam of the white teeth within; Dimple of the cloven chin; All the sunshine that you wear In the summer of your hair; All the morning of your face; All your figure's wilding grace; The flower-pose of your head, the light Flutter of your footsteps' flight: I own all, and that glad heart I must claim ere you depart. II Go, yet go not unconsoled! Sometime, after you are old, You shall come, and I will take From your brow the sullen ache, From your eyes the twilight gaze Darkening upon winter days, From your feet their palsy pace, And the wrinkles from your face, From your locks the snow; the droop Of your head, your worm frame's stoop, And that withered smile within The kissing of the nose and chin: I own all, and that sad heart I will claim ere you depart. III I am Race, and both are mine, Mortal Age and Youth divine: Mine to grant, but not in fee; Both again revert to me From each that lives, that I may give Unto each that yet shall live. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BETWEEN THE WARS by ROBERT HASS THE GOLDEN SHOVEL by TERRANCE HAYES ALONG WITH YOUTH by ERNEST HEMINGWAY THE BLACK RIVIERA by MARK JARMAN |
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