Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DEL INFERNO, by EDWARD SAPIR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DEL INFERNO, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A world in flames!
Last Line: "a world in flames!'"
Subject(s): Devil; Fire; Hell; Satan; Mephistopheles; Lucifer; Beelzebub


I.

A world in flames!
The wretched world upborne by tortoise—elephant—
(Or is it Atlas? Some prize correctness)—
At last in flames that black it
With a bleak, eternal smudge;
A world insanely scorched
By laughing flames,—
Flames mightier than those who lit them—
Sheep, bleating heroes,—
No matter! Here are the flames
For the warming of Satanic hands. ...
Flames must have things to lick,
Lives to lick,
And black, to bleak eternity.
(You cannot frame the sunset in your room;
Must you have scenery?
Why,—burn the western sky.
Must you have gleeful heat?
Why,—burn the world
And let the flames work for you.)
Millions of sheep to do your bidding:—
Just call the stench of carcasses
'Fragrance of the ideal,'
And their ghosts will bleat their thanks;
Millions of sheep to do your bidding;
Jnst take out your pocket dictionary
And make a talisman of half a dozen words.

II.

A world in flames!
But will it burn—utterly?
So much of it is fossilized,
One doubts.

At any rate the Devil's not quite satisfied.
They tell me, when the cry went forth
"A world in flames!"
He yawned, incredulous,
And poked his head up there,
Just casually, to take a look.
His laughter,
When he settled home,—
They say 'twas worth the hearing.
"Flames forsooth!
A little warmish round the fringe. ...
But give them time, they're young. ...
They still put angels' wings
On to their cannon;
The oil they're pouring on the flames
Has still the moralistic smell
(Well-nigh ecclesiastic.)
Give them time!. ...
Two years, four years—
I'll look again;
Perhaps there'll be a good wind
For the burning then.
Time enough to say:
'A world in flames!'"





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