Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CARELESSNESS, by WALT MASON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CARELESSNESS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I strike a match upon my boot, and light
Last Line: Black my starry eyes.
Subject(s): Fire


I STRIKE a match upon my boot, and light my three-for-five cheroot, then throw
the match away. "The fire fiend snorted through the town, and burned our finest

buildings down," the morning papers say. I suck an orange as I talk, and drop
the peel upon the walk, then journey to my flat; a friend steps on that peel of

mine, and breaks a gallus and a spine, an ankle and a slat. I scrubbed the
cellar stairs with pep, then left the pail upon a step, and went to groom the
cow; my aunt went down to get some jell; she stumbled o'er that pail and fell,
and spoiled her queenly brow. I'm always doing thoughtless tricks, which bring
dire grief to other hicks, and fill them with alarm; and when I've made some
dizzy break, I say, "Twas merely a mistake—I surely meant no harm." But
being sorry doesn't cure the griefs my victims must endure, and now and then
they rise, brush my apologies aside, and make some punctures in my hide, and
black my starry eyes.





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