Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, NINE O'CLOCK, by LYDIA SHARPE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NINE O'CLOCK, by                    
First Line: From the great clock on the landing
Last Line: But enchantment.
Subject(s): Clocks; Day; Hearts; Time; Women


From the great clock on the landing
Fell nine clear tones
On four women's hearts.

To the mother, bending to kiss her baby
Nestled like a sleeping bird
They were Angelus and sanctuary;

Like the frightened throb of her own heart
To the grandmother,
Waiting close under the light,
Knitting old thoughts into her work,

To the stolid maid in the kitchen
The loosing of stout chains:
Chains that bind her to this room,
So far from her own rugged mountains
Where fjords step deep down into the sea.

To all but one
The day had ended with the setting of the young moon.
But this loveliest of them all
Poises like a palpitating butterfly
On the staircase,
While chimes shatter the silence.
Her scarlet crinkle of lips moves breathlessly:
For to her
This is neither night nor day
But enchantment.





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