Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, JENNIE, by JOSEPHINE POLLITT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

JENNIE, by                    
First Line: Pinch of thirsty garden
Last Line: At peace.
Subject(s): Contentment


I

Pinch of thirsty garden,
Stile, an apple tree,
A twisty walk that burrowed
Into wild sweet-pea --

And her face drew from the sun
All that it could give,
As Jennie, laughing, said to me,
"This is where I live."

I saw a hump of old green house,
Straw-filled panes of glass.
She saw earthy violets
Deep in the wet grass.

Shyly her eyes lifted
To a road near-by,
That ran through a bean-patch up a hill,
And leapt to meet the sky.

II

At night,
While the rounded posts of her bed grinned fixedly
Like four little Chinese idols,
And the sodden face of a mirror
Bent in blear-eyed stare,
She knelt by the viny window
Where moonlight fell in a dark-green pool,
And said her prayer.

A million prayers went up to prick at heaven,
While God shuffled the winds
And flashed the northern lights;
And what if hers were tangled in the starry purple,
Or got no higher than the tulip-tree!
She lay in the moonlight
Straight and white,
At peace.





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