(For D. M. C.) The little man with the vague beard and guise Pulled at the wicket. "Come inside!" he said, "I'll show you all we've got now -- it was size You wanted? -- oh, dry colors! Well" -- he led To a dim alley lined with musty bins, And pulled one fiercely. Violent and bold A sudden tempest of mad, shrieking sins Scarlet screamed out above the battered gold Of tins and picture-frames. I held my breath. He tugged another hard -- and sapphire skies Spread in vast quietude, serene as death, O'er waves like crackled turquoise -- and my eyes Burnt with the blinding brilliance of calm sea! "We're selling that lot there out cheap!" said he. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VARIATIONS: 10 by CONRAD AIKEN ON A PALMETTO by SIDNEY LANIER IN THE JEWISH SYNAGOGUE AT NEWPORT by EMMA LAZARUS SORROWING LOVE by KATHERINE MANSFIELD THE BLACK MONKEY by KATHERINE MANSFIELD THE LAST JUDGMENT by JOHN CROWE RANSOM |