Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ARRANGEMENT IN BLACK AND GOLD, NEW ORLEANS, 1821 by WALTER MCCLELLAN

First Line: THE LOVELY PORTUGUESE IS DEAD
Last Line: FINDS HERE ALIVE, AND SHINES UPON.
Subject(s): DEATH; DEAD, THE;

The lovely Portuguese is dead,
Tall candles burn about her head.
Her negro slave, Lili-Alixe,
Prays with an ivory crucifix.
Until strange men knock on the door,
And walk upon the painted floor . . .
O men who bear this poor dead woman
Unto that place where nothing's human,
Behold your shadows this noon day
And know that she is less than they.
Rejoice that these black phantoms move,
Your living presences to prove:
Yourselves that still the heavy sun
Finds here alive, and shines upon.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net