MY brain swims empty and light Like a nut on a sea of oil; And an atmosphere of quiet Wraps me about from the turmoil and clamour of life. I stand apart from living, Apart and holy I stand, In my new-gained growth of idleness, I stand, As stood the Shekinah of yore in the holy of holies. I walk the streets smoking my pipe And I love the dallying shop-girl That leans with rounded stern to look at the fashions; And I hate the bustling citizen, The eager and hurrying man of affairs I hate, Because he bears his intolerance writ on his face And every movement and word of him tells me how much he hates me. I love night in the city, The lighted streets and the swinging gait of harlots. I love cool pale morning, In the empty bye-streets, With only here and there a female figure, A slavey with lifted dress and the key in her hand, A girl or two at play in a corner of waste-land Tumbling and showing their legs and crying out to me loosely. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE TESTAMENT OF CRESSEID by ROBERT HENRYSON ON THE SITE OF A MULBERRY-TREE PLANTED BY SHAKESPEARE ... by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI KNOW THYSELF by WILLIAM ARBUTHNOT STANZAS OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF H-- A-- by BERNARD BARTON CHINESE PROCESSION by WITTER BYNNER AT BEETHOVEN'S GRAVE by IGNAZ FRANZ CASTELLI LINES FROM A NOTEBOOK - FEBRUARY 1807 (1) by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE |