Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A MEDIC GATHERS MUSHROOMS FOR HIS LADY, by GRACE STONE COATES


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A MEDIC GATHERS MUSHROOMS FOR HIS LADY, by                    
First Line: Atropin for muscarine --
Last Line: We have not trod.
Subject(s): Herbs; Mushrooms; Poisons & Poisoning; Morels


AMANITAS

Atropin for muscarine --
(Hey, my girl, but the woods are jolly
Where the deadly Amanitas lean!)
But what is the antidote for folly?

Ipicac for the gasping fool --
(Watch the swell of that warbler's throat!)
Then a dose of valerian cool,
But what is true love's antidote?

Whisper: Ebb is implicit in surge,
Wisdom hatches a serpent, my dove;
Folly is folly's only purge,
And loving, the antidote for love.

PHALLUS IMPUDICUS

They bear another thought than ours,
Shaped by the pallid touch of death
In intricate, unscented bowers,
Cool from his breath.

They disregard our verities.
They are not children of our sun.
Innocence and obscenities
On them are one.

A flower is our cousin-german;
By these pale strangers we are held
-- Bending their secret to determine --
Rapt and repelled.

We have no ear for what they say.
They bear the mystery of God
Along the ages, by a way
We have not trod.





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