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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THANATOPSIS FOR HETTY by CALE YOUNG RICE

First Line: HARTMAN'S SEAMSTRESS, HETTY
Last Line: TO THE NO-MORE-NEEDY DEAD.
Subject(s): DEATH; FLOWERS; GRAVES; SLEEP; DEAD, THE; TOMBS; TOMBSTONES;

Hartman's seamstress, Hetty,
Losing the road to sleep,
Then work too, sought death --
To make @3it@1 pay her keep.

They bought her a cheap coffin
And a bare lot on a hill
And a dress she did not have to make,
But only to lie in, still.

She slept quite well in earth:
Never sewing a seam,
Never saving a penny,
Never having a dream.

Even forgetting the lover
Who came, and went away,
When she was one and twenty:
She slept quite well in clay.

For Hartman sent flowers,
To cover the grave's need;
And the priest said he hoped
The Lord would pardon her deed.

And @3every@1 one was kind --
As Hetty would have said.
As everyone is --
To the no-more-needy dead.



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