Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE PROFLIGATE, by CALE YOUNG RICE Poet's Biography First Line: Peace! I must go Last Line: And husks for swine. Subject(s): Faith; Farewell; Life; Love - Loss Of; Peace; Sin; Belief; Creed; Parting | ||||||||
Peace! I must go, Though you are all to me, Comrade and friend, Mistress and wife. Ask me not why -- It is life's call to me: Staying I die. Faithless I am: Faithful could never be. Mating with you Should have brought rest. So I believed: But -- as 'twill ever be -- I was deceived. Lure of the blood, Whim of perversity, Harries me on -- Want of the new; Craving to clasp Though through adversity Some one not you. Craving for sin, Craving for punishment -- Even for pain, Stinging and wild. Craving to be, Spite of admonishment, Madly defiled. Yet ever free -- Though you are beautiful! None to compare With you I'll find! -- Free to rove on, Base and undutiful, Cruel, unkind. For I am thus. Nothing for long to me Ever can seem Clear of distaste. Fairest of lips, If they belong to me, Soon become waste. Too many wants God has put into me, Noble and vile, Human, divine. So till life ends It shall bring sin to me -- And husks for swine. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN STUDY #2 FOR B.B.L. by JUNE JORDAN WATCHING THE NEEDLEBOATS AT SAN SABBA by JAMES JOYCE SESTINA: TRAVEL NOTES by WELDON KEES A CHARM TO BRING CHILDREN (EGYPT, A.D. 100) by CALE YOUNG RICE |
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