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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LINES SENT WITH A GIFT by MARY PRUDENCE MORTON

First Line: HOLD POIGNANCE IN YOUR HAND. THE EARLY THAWS
Last Line: LOVE, IN AN EMPTY TERRA-COTTA BOWL.
Subject(s): GIFTS & GIVING;

Hold poignance in your hand. The early thaws
Will stir and shiver exiled clay no more,
And where these windless trees forever pause
In petrifaction, birds will never pour
Their little brooklet waterfalls of song.
Pity this Pan incarnate whose young feet
Relinquished dancing; these sad sheep that long
For greener pastures; this atrophic wheat.
Let loveliness arrested teach your soul
Beauty of passage, exigence of death.
This pastoral medallion in relief
Tells a most ancient weariness and grief.
Find here the precious heritage of breath,
Love, in an empty terra-cotta bowl.



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