Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WHAT OF BEAUTY by OLIVE CHRISTENSEN

First Line: WHAT OF BEAUTY IS THERE HERE?
Last Line: IT WOULD BE BEST TO DIE HERE.
Subject(s): BEAUTY; SOUTH DAKOTA;
What of beauty is there here?
Wet earth covered with dank, rotten thistles;
Damp, heavy earth and one drouth-resisting pine tree
To sentinel this resting place of earthly bodies --
One pine tree pointing to the limitless blue.

Is this our haven then, when we are through?
It seems not fitting;
What could I
Who have so long loved song and warmth and laughter
Find here as an end?
How could I
"Rest in Peace"?

And yet
Right here I have sought beauty,
Found it in the limpid blue
Of skies there seemed no earthly ending to;
In quiet snows drifting deep and wet;
In spring air, pure and cool --
I fairly breathed in
The beauty here.

I have @3lived@1 here,
And loved it all
Through blizzards, and crisp, cold nights;
Through growing spring, and sear, brown autumn;
Through infrequent, drenching rains;
Through glorious silver days of frost on trees;
Through hail and grasshoppers
And dust storms, too.

I think
It would be best to die here.



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