Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TWO LIVES. PART 2: 25, by WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TWO LIVES. PART 2: 25, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: An instant - leapt - leapt - followed. - in the hall
Last Line: "letters that shrieked upon me, ""she is dead!"
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


An instant -- leapt -- leapt -- followed. -- In the hall
I heard the click of key on upper floor --
Strength left my knees -- I could but crawl and crawl --
And trembled groping to her chamber door --
I heard the rattling of a box -- a knife? --
Razor at throat? -- the panel -- shall I break? --
Perhaps it's nothing -- I grip the knob, -- "My wife!
O open! Open for your husband's sake!" --
She opened . . . with a vision on her face,
And hands uplifted to immortal things,
And past me flew . . . upon her toilet case
An emptied glass with foam in awful rings,
And a green bottle labelled with the red
Letters that shrieked upon me, "She is dead!"





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