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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


REFLECTION by ELIZABETH JANE COATSWORTH

First Line: GERANIUMS
Last Line: WITH SUCH UNSUBTLE GAIETY AT THEIR BELTS.
Subject(s): ANIMALS; FLOWERS; GERANIUMS;

Geraniums . . .
Who ever heard that Sappho put
Geraniums in her hair?

Or thought that Cleopatra brushed
Her long Greek face against their petals?

Did Beatrice carry them?
Or any bird sigh out his wild-fire heart
In passion for them?

Yet sparrows, far outnumbering nightingales,
Have gossiped under their tomato cans,
And lonely spinsters loved them more than cats,

And living girls have felt quite festive, going
Down vulgar streets
With such unsubtle gaiety at their belts.



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