Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE DEVIL'S SNUFF BOX, by JANET B. MONTGOMERY MCGOVERN First Line: Now that which for many years I have lived for Last Line: As the sight of devil's snuff-boxes. Subject(s): Devil; Enemies; Evil; Satan; Mephistopheles; Lucifer; Beelzebub | ||||||||
NOW that which for many years I have lived for Is done; now that my enemy is vanquished, Now that I know myself the victor What do I know myself for? For that which is empty but for foulness; Like that fungus which children call The devil's snuff-box; a skin filled with nothingness But evil odour. A prick, a puff of black dust; A smell; and the memory of that which offended. Yet, in vanishing, the devil's snuff-box Spreads seeds of its own foulness In the dust that it scatters. So will the trail which I leave behind In the applause with which men hail my name Make other devil's snuff-boxes; fair to the seeming; Swollen with pride and with the bloating corruption Into which dead souls turn. Till, their mission filled, their enemies vanquished, They know themselves but for stench and dust, Their souls consumed with consuming, Vanquished in the victory that men applaud, As children clap their hands As the sight of devil's snuff-boxes. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE DEVIL'S SERMON by PHILIP JAMES BAILEY AND THE GREATEST OF THESE IS WAR by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE TEMPTRESS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON ADDRESS TO THE DEIL by ROBERT BURNS THE DEVIL'S WALK [ON EARTH] by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE THE SIFTING OF PETER by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW CHERRY TREES IN APRIL by JANET B. MONTGOMERY MCGOVERN |
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