Classic and Contemporary Poetry
REVERSAL, by FLORA SHUFELT RIVOLA First Line: How should a puritan live in me Last Line: Could happiness be right? Subject(s): Happiness; Joy; Delight | ||||||||
How should a puritan live in me Who am prairie-born? Yet when I hold an ecstasy, It pricks me as a thorn. It is as though a loveliness Must be always forgone Because some prudent ancestress Has slipped my gay self on. She wears me as a casual hood No sooner donned than doffed. For how could its lent charm be good? Far, far too bright and soft! But once I wore her as a pearl Upon love's trembling hand. Even she was once a dreaming girl; She seemed to understand, For suddenly the gray of her Grew exquisite with light; I felt her breathless questions were, Could happiness be right? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE STUDY OF HAPPINESS by KENNETH KOCH SO MUCH HAPPINESS by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE CROWD CONDITIONS by JOHN ASHBERY I WILL NOT BE CLAIMED by MARVIN BELL THE BOOK OF THE DEAD MAN (#21): 1. ABOUT THE DEAD MAN'S HAPPINESS by MARVIN BELL A PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING FOR THE SOUL OF AN ECCENTRIC MAN by FLORA SHUFELT RIVOLA |
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