Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


....THE KINGDOM OF THE AIR by ALFRED FRANCIS KREYMBORG

First Line: WHOSE PEACOCK CRY BEREAVES THOSE MYRTLE GROVES?
Last Line: OR MAKE A LASH CLOSE OVER ITS LONG STARE.
Subject(s): LOVE; PEACE; SILENCE; WAR;

Whose peacock cry bereaves those myrtle groves?
(One might unveil a murder, could one see
The thing one doesn't hear again? Did love's
Staccato knife strike forth such agony?)
A running echo answers trembling, moves
As though affrighted to record and be
The instrument to bugle soft reproofs --
Then silence goes ahead more silently:

Now stillness dwells among the shrivelled leaves,
Folding itself round every thing that grieves;
Not even ghosts can find their memories;
Nor even knives, prolonged to war with peace,
Pierce or resist the kingdom of the air,
Or make a lash close over its long stare.



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