Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MASKS, by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON Poet's Biography First Line: A certain friend of mine, whose daily praise Last Line: Whose common title with the world was saint. Subject(s): Hate; Life; Masks; Sin; Soul | ||||||||
A CERTAIN friend of mine, whose daily praise Was in the mouths of men, once startled me By what he said when I, like all the rest, Cried up his virtues and his blameless life. In this wise speaking: "Stop! you madden me. You and the crowd but look to what I do, And when you find me righteous and the law Unbroken, why, you make a loud acclaim, Holding me guiltless and a perfect man. But tell me, friend, whether of two is best: To let a spite eat slowly to the heart, Making no outward sign, rebelling not, Or, by an honest spurt of wrathy blood, To mass the hate of many brooding years Into one right-arm blow, and so be quits? To speak in terms immaculate and nice, Yet curse in speechless thoughts, to clean forswear All lewdness, yet go lusting secretly? To render weight for weight, yet grudge the coin Flung to a beggar-lad -- in brief, to find My soul the nesting-place for divers sins, And still walk on in smug and seemly guise? I tell thee, there are times I hear a voice Say very clear, though softly, in myself: ''Twere better if you sinned right openly Than let the vileness stew within your mind And pass your properness upon the world, Knowing the while the arch hpyocrisy That takes the name of angel where, instead, Devil hits nearer to the truth.' Ah me!" Here, staying words, he sighed a heavy sigh; And, musing, on I strolled, debating how Mere masking tricks us all, and somewhat sad To learn the inner history of one Whose common title with the world was saint. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CRUEL FALCON by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE WHOLE SOUL by PHILIP LEVINE I KNOW MY SOUL by CLAUDE MCKAY HONORING THE SAND; IN MEMORY OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL by ROBERT BLY THE CHINESE PEAKS; FOR DONALD HALL by ROBERT BLY THE LIFE OF TOWNS: TOWN OF THE EXHUMATION by ANNE CARSON BLACK SHEEP by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON |
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