Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BY MY OWN SWEAT, by ALEX R. SCHMIDT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BY MY OWN SWEAT, by                    
First Line: I'm a sober polyp in a coral prison
Last Line: Like the polyp, I can never leave my cell.
Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners


I'm a sober polyp in a coral prison,
Tireless, until the slender spark is spent;
My work-gauge is measured with the same precision
As his, and stirs the world to less comment.

I'm a puffing beaver by a demon driven,
Grudging ordered days to dam and dyke and bar,
My wet nose is the muck, I may not glimpse heaven,
Never, on raised haunches, bellow to a star.

I rear bridges, breastworks, delve in earth and water,
And break heart and sinew to house homeless dreams
Of my kind. I'm hewer, smiter, heaver, carter;
I swing iron tools to level heavy beams.

For I am of the earth, born to be its lever,
A digger of dirt and filth till my muscles swell.
I bathe in my own sweat, swampborn like the beaver;
Like the polyp, I can never leave my cell.





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