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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SPIRITS, by BURGES JOHNSON Poet's Biography
First Line: See that apple, ripe and ruddy
Last Line: I must ponder for a while.
Subject(s): Children; Childhood
First Line: See that apple, ripe and ruddy
Last Line: I must ponder for a while.
Subject(s): Children; Childhood
See that apple, ripe and ruddy,
There on yonder lofty shelf
In the corner of my study
I can scarcely reach, myself.
Only yesterday I bought it,
Tempted by its rosy glow;
Though my little ones besought it,
'T was intended just for show.
They are babes so frail and tender,
They're so innocent and young;
Who could but be their defender
'Gainst malicious slander's tongue!
On the cheek of yonder apple
There's a scar that lately came.
Oh for wisdom fit to grapple
With the question—Who's to blame?
There are little tooth-marks in it,
Yet it has not moved at all.
I was absent scarce a minute—
They're so innocent and small!
Can it be that spirits haunt us,
Leaving tooth-marks here and there?
Playing idle pranks to taunt us,
Marking footprints on a chair?
They are babes so frail and tender,
Far too wee for sin or guile;
Who could but be their defender?
I must ponder for a while.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
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THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN
CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL
COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL
THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL
A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL
CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS
ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE
THE POET AT SEVEN by DONALD JUSTICE
A BABY AT THE PARTY by BURGES JOHNSON