Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE FUNERAL OF ANTONIO GIANNO by STIRLING BOWEN

First Line: ABOVE THE FRUIT STORE DOWN ON BIDDLE STREET
Last Line: THE DEVASTATION OF THE LAST DESCENT!
Subject(s): FUNERALS; BURIALS;

Above the fruit store down on Biddle street,
Where he found humble solace and a rest
From that unwritten law whose final test
Predestined him for vengeance's winding sheet --
In that now empty chamber, just the sweet
Faint scent of flowers where each parting guest
Gave springtime's tribute to the dispossessed,
A memory and fragrance of defeat!

As guardians at that dark door where came
The cortege, tapers with their glow half-spent
On shadow fade and finger with a flame.
And down the dim worn stairway, trampled, bent,
Crushed petals, with their blood upon his name --
The devastation of the last descent!



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