Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE THEFT, by AMORY HARE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE THEFT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I had forgotten what it was to wake
Last Line: And spend this hour as though it were a coin!
Alternate Author Name(s): Hutchinson, Amory Hare
Subject(s): Crime & Criminals; Time


I had forgotten what it was to wake
With days for spending, days like minted gold
Wherewith to buy back beauty known in youth.
I had forgotten how the flowers break
Wide open while the dim dawn still is cold
And lonely from night's passing, Time has sold
My credulous senses many a counterfeit,
But now I know the feigned thing from the truth
And make swift purchase though the buying's late.
Look! Here's a minted hour with a date
Dawn cut there with her last star's pointed spear,
It buys the thing that makes awakening dear
And rising beautiful. It buys the chair
Before the mirror (like a tilted lake)
In just the place I like to brush my hair
And listen to the wrens beneath the eaves,
And watch the warm breeze loitering to shake
The apple-blossoms downward through the leaves.
It buys the household stir which soon ensues;
The kitchen noises and the breakfast smell;
The cheerful sound of children in the tub,
Calling to me for towels or for shoes
Forgotten or mislaid! I cannot tell
The joy I have in linen on the shelves
This early hour, so smugly piled in twelves
Seeming to wait to wipe, to yearn to rub!

Old wandering Time, your wallet I purloin
And spend this hour as though it were a coin!





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