Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SECOND COMING, by SAMUEL KATZ


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SECOND COMING, by                    
First Line: Sheets whiten about him. From the dark
Last Line: To warm him from the cold hands of his age.
Subject(s): Dreams; Love; Second Advent; Nightmares; Second Coming Of Christ


Sheets whiten about him. From the dark
Upon the counterpane are thrown
Faces of drowned men dripping, stark,
Lips in a tight grin from thick waves blown.

Somewhere noted in crayon, yellowed on the wall,
A woman prays to a heaven obsolete
With rumors; guardian, stricken of his fall --
Blood of her blood, purpose of her conceit --

Once she had felt him curl against her beast,
Desperately sheltered him from the night's evil.
What long-laden eyes, seasoned beyond rest,
Could shield him from the flesh and flesh's evil?

Amid unopened letters, unlettered screams
Protesting innocence, who is this?
One final phantom wedged into his dreams,
Bearing the bitten apple amid the serpent's hiss --

She comes, who bore him from her lust and love,
In a second coming resurrected from her age,
And wraps her love about, a glove
To warm him from the cold hands of his age.





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