Get out of town before it's too late While the speedboat is frozen in the arctic lake While the cops are snoring in the frost-hung parlor And the shotgun hidden under crumpled pillows. Get out of town, cross the winter mountain. There are arteries hardening. The mob yells murder, But be stayed no one, yourself no traitor -- They will not be saved, themselves not try to. Get out of town while the going is good. Say the hard word. Kiss the girls goodby. Let the boys wait forever in the gloomy barrens A thousand miles from water and as far from wood. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MARIANNE MOORE by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS THE NIGHTINGALE; A CONVERSATION POEM by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE OUR SUSSEX DOWNS by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES BALLADE OF BLUE CHINA by ANDREW LANG EPICUREAN by WILLIAM JAMES LINTON A LITTLE SONG OF LIFE by LIZETTE WOODWORTH REESE THE LOW-DOWN WHITE by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE CRADLE SONG (TO A TUNE OF BLAKE'S): 2 by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE |