Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ALBUMS, by JULES LAFORGUE Poet's Biography First Line: They told me the life of the far west and the prairie Last Line: These albums! Not unbreakable, my toys! ... Subject(s): Prairies; Plains | ||||||||
They told me the life of the Far West and the Prairie. And my blood surged: "That's the life for me!" Outcast of the old world, heedless and contrary, Desperado! That's the place! Out there, king! I'll be. Out there I will scalp myself of my European brain! Prancing on the prairie like a virgin antelope, Freed from literature, I'll be big bad man of the plain, Hissing Californian jargon on luck's slope! A pure wandering planter, breeder, architect, Hunter, fisher, gambler, beyond all legal sins! Between the sea and the states of the Mormon sect! Venison and whisky! Clad in skins, With the prairie-grass for a bed, and primordial skies Rich as the baskets gorgeous weddings draw! ... And then what? Bivouac to bivouac, and Lynch law; Today uncut diamonds on our fingers, prize Of the night at play; and tomorrow speed again To the prairie and the lure of the nugget's madness. Grown old, a farm toward the sunrise, when A milch-cow turns at romping youngsters' gladness. And, as I can draw if I must, on the gate a sign: "Tatooer of arms for all the roundabout!" And there you are. ... And if ever I start to pine For Paris, hearing: "Not by a long shot out Of me, yet! Nor will your children roam!" And if, great vulture of the Rockies, in your flight You reveal the Infinite, enemy of home Very well, I shall create a new garden of delight, A cult of the golden age, an empirical social order Framed for the modern and mystic shepherd peoples of the border. How splendid these bonfires are! And what decoys These albums! Not unbreakable, my toys! ... | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LEFT-HANDED POEM by JAMES GALVIN NO COMPLAINTS; FOR ROBERT GRENIER by ANSELM HOLLO POINT OF ROCKS, TEXAS by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE PRAIRIE HOUSES by BARBARA GUEST AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE PRAIRIES by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT TO MAKE A PRAIRIE by EMILY DICKINSON THE PRAIRIE-GRASS DIVIDING by WALT WHITMAN SYMPHONY OF THE SOIL by EVA K. ANGLESBURG ANOTHER BOOK by JULES LAFORGUE |
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