Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MY SAFETY RAZOR by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS

First Line: I USED TO SHAVE IN AWFUL FEAR
Last Line: SMOOTH AS A SAFETY RAZOR GO!
Subject(s): RAZORS;
I used to shave in awful fear
Of losing chin or lip or ear;
For well I knew a movement rash
Meant some unconscionable gash.
In steamboats then, and on the cars
I tried to shave between the jars;
But oh, in seas or country rough
What razor, pray, is sharp enough
To know just where the calms begin,
And where the bumps are coming in?
I hastened, after each disaster,
To use the styptic and the plaster,
But seemed, with many a ragged scar,
A hero torn in horrid war,
Yet served the most unholy ends
Of banter even to my friends.

But now my safety razor swings
Swift as a swallow's cleaving wings,
Smooth as the motion of a dream,
Or fishes gliding in a stream.
My mirror fills a useless place;
I do not need to see my face.
I shave me in the waning light
Or in the blackness of the night.
In safety now securely brave,
I even shut my eyes and shave;
And where the bumps the bumpiest are,
I laugh at every jolt and jar.

Now heaven grant me grace to bring
The same good sense to everything!
To guard the cutting edge of care,
Nor leave its mordant sharpness bare;
To curb the raspings of my words,
Nor flourish them like naked swords;
To shield the barbs of anxious doubt
With casings made of courage stout;
And save my soul from worry's wound,
With high sereneness fenced around.
So shall I wield my tools, nor harm
The turning hand, the swinging arm;
So shall I do my work in peace,
So shall my fret and turmoil cease,
And all my time's full-freighted flow
Smooth as a safety razor go!



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