Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SPEED FIEND, by WALT MASON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SPEED FIEND, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They dread my coming, east and west, and
Last Line: I spoil a pedagogue, and there I bag a grocer.
Subject(s): Churchyards; Death; Dead, The


THEY dread my coming, east and west, and north and south they dread me, and if
my person they possessed, no doubt they would behead me. Along the country roads

I go, still striving to go faster, and every other mile or so I spring some
small disaster. To beat all records, west and east, it is for that I hanker! And

here and there I kill a priest, and here and there a banker. I'm worse than
lightning's lurid breath; I am the scourge titanic; I'm battle, murder, sudden
death; my other name is panic. With Azrael I deftly work, to fill the churchyard

acre; and here and there I slay a clerk, and here and there a baker. I am a
threat to all who drive their motor wagons sanely; by care they try to keep
alive, and free from wounds, but vainly. I whiz around a corner sharp, and grind

such people under; and while my victim draws a harp, I scorch along like
thunder. To all who in this valley jog, I bring the last trump closer; and here

I spoil a pedagogue, and there I bag a grocer.





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