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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TWO LIVES. PART 1: 26 by WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD

First Line: MID-MORNING OF MID-JUNE: HER SUDDEN WHIM
Last Line: "THE SWEETEST WEDDING OF MY EIGHTY YEARS."

Mid-morning of mid-June: Her sudden whim
Among the guests (who chatted ill at ease):
"O let's be married out beneath the trees --
This mantel with its garlands is so prim."
As if she said, "Let's row an hour or swim";
As if she said, "Let's pick the white sweet pease,
And leave the pink and purple for the bees";
As if she said, "Let's get the shears and trim
The lilac stems" . . . Blue lake and bluer sky
Merged with the green of earth, of odorous earth,
A scarlet tanager went flashing by,
The unseen thrasher sang with all his mirth . . .
The old dame neighbor said with happy tears:
"The sweetest wedding of my eighty years."



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