This day lies under glass, A relic. Blear and wan, Two feet wade up the dawn, Tread and fall back like fish, Two fish as blind as bone. The sun, the sun beats down. A vitreous, brittle sky Expands to the breaking point Like burnt glass being blown, And the blind feet go on. Nothing can keep it now, This sky that splits apart, For the cygnet and the swan On striding wings have flown Over the shallow hill, Dripping across the lawn Droplets of breaking laughter Like that of the soulless girl Who was here and has gone. 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...LONELY BURIAL by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET THE COLOR SERGEANT by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON CELSUS AT HADRIAN'S VILLA by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SLANTS AT BUFFALO, NEW YORK by CARL SANDBURG THE DARKEST HOUR; OXFORD, 1917 by GEORGE SANTAYANA THE VIKING GRAVE AT LADBY by KAREN SWENSON |