Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE KING'S HORSES, by HERBERT H. LONGFELLOW First Line: I have been thinking about the sensibilities of a word Last Line: I must wait. Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary | ||||||||
I have been thinking about the sensibilities of a word. Of a word that has been chosen as a messenger between friends In an anticipated ministry of joy. I have been thinking of it as a tiny, alert and eager word, Dancing in expectancy, Shining, gleeful and importunate. I have imagined it upon its journey. Its self-satisfactions, its images of conquest, its prides, its haste. Everything is auspicious. The journey is brief. A single instant suffices. It is without danger. The word and its sender are in wholesome accord; The understanding between them cannot be bettered; Each mirrors the perfection of the other. I am rejoiced. I have become anxious. I have witnessed defeat. I am nettled. The word has beheld its importance. It returns without brightness. It has become dust. It is tossed and bitten by the wind. It is frayed; it has become sound. Its ministry is forgotten. It has become a jest. Its lineage is disgraced. It is humiliated. I am amazed. What can I do to restore or reassure even a little word? I can do nothing. I must wait. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOWYOUBEENS' by TERRANCE HAYES MY LIFE: REASON LOOKS FOR TWO, THEN ARRANGES IT FROM THERE by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: THE BEST WORDS by LYN HEJINIAN WRITING IS AN AID TO MEMORY: 17 by LYN HEJINIAN CANADA IN ENGLISH by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA THERE IS NO WORD by TONY HOAGLAND CONSIDERED SPEECH by JOHN HOLLANDER AND MOST OF ALL, I WANNA THANK ?Ǫ by JOHN HOLLANDER MIRRORS by HERBERT H. LONGFELLOW |
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