Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BOLTED DOOR, by GRACE BROWN PUTNAM


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BOLTED DOOR, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You reason well as one who sees
Last Line: His dead hand on the bolted door.
Subject(s): Puritans


You reason well as one who sees
The tilting masks that screen pretense,
As one who feels love's urgencies
And knows our hearts' coincidence.

I own it all, but cannot bow
A pliant neck to fit that yoke;
And so at last, I know not how,
The Puritan within me spoke.

My heart is numbed by that old cry
Resounding down the years,
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die",
Despite remorse, despite our tears.

I gaze, prophetic, down the days
And see the glory fade,
See bankrupt Love and all he fears
As his lost stakes are slowly paid.

I pit my soul against your sense
And trust my spirit's power
To bear for love high evidence
When comes at last the crucial hour.

And so, dear love, for you and me,
No primrose path forevermore;
A stern old Puritan stands guard,
His dead hand on the bolted door.





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