Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BRUISED HEEL, by CHARLES WILLIAMS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BRUISED HEEL, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: All the heat, as they float over earth, of infectious / stars
Last Line: His infinite way is, his joy in the way so strong!
Subject(s): Bodies; Health


ALL the heat, as they float over earth, of infectious stars,
Hatching tyrannies, plots, rebellions, giant wars;
All prisons, and innocent lives that find the street
And the cloud their prison; all listless heavy feet;
All cancers with twisted root that shall never be whole,
And cancerous slanders draining a true man's soul;
All scaling leprosy eating the face away,
And scaling avarice no content shall stay;
All hearts that are sick in the sleeplessness of night,
And sick in the conflict of dawn; all grudge of delight
In surly households; all frenzies of day or dream
Till alike the heavens of earth and spirit seem
Pale and drawn by the pain of the deep abscess at the core
Of Being—
O heart, if this indeed were no more
Than a hurt, than a rub by the way, than a prick in man's heel
Which a day's rest soothes and his health no more shall feel,
Nor his foot delay, nor his mind be wracked, so long
His infinite way is, his joy in the way so strong!





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