Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, VICTORY SONG, by GEORGE ADDISON SCARBROUGH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

VICTORY SONG, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: As I run to the springhouse / to get a cold drink, / I am laughing
Subject(s): Happiness; Wasps; Joy; Delight; Yellow Jackets


As I run to the springhouse
to get a cold drink,
I am laughing

and the world
absolutely sings.
For under the rafter

where their gray bag hung
like a paper temple,
at the ragged threshold,

on blue steps of air,
I have slain them all --
the flickering wasps

with red-earth bodies
and amber isinglass
wings

and death in their asses.
How formidable they look,
how beautiful still

in their polished legion
in a windy corner!
And how fine the day is:

all blessed assurance,
safe and secure as the shining corpse
of the last dead warrior!

What can I do but laugh?
To kill one's enemies
is a joyful exercise:

how else can one keep
the whole sweet problem
of deliverance alive?

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