Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AS ONE INVULNERABLE by JESSICA NELSON NORTH

First Line: I KNEW A MAN WHO MET TO-MORROW
Last Line: WHISTLED THE SHARP, OFFENSIVE BLADE.
Subject(s): INDIFFERENCE;
I knew a man who met to-morrow
With hard, indifferent repose --
Buttoned his coat about his sorrow
And walked unarmed among his foes.
(For foes he has and foes a-plenty
Who will not lay his wound apart,
And show the world for five and twenty
The crucifixion of his heart.)

He stood at his deserted window
And would not set a candle there;
With dagger-pointed innuendo
The cheated public paused to stare,

Or boldly thrusting, fled affrighted
Lest they do battle with a shade,
When through his sinews, unrequited,
Whistled the sharp, offensive blade.



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