Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


HE by BENJAMIN ROSENBAUM

First Line: HE PASSED AMONG US
Last Line: WITH A TALL STOVEPIPE HAT REACHING THE CLOUDS!

HE passed among us
Gaunt and terrible.
If you had seen his eyes --
His eyes burning with loneliness
And the simplicity of his face,
You would have known
The whole history of America at a flash.

Compare him to a mountain or an elm or a sea,
If you wish.
Each has a part of him.
But to find him,
Go to quiet places when you are sad.
You will see the softness and loneliness of his burning eyes
In the distance;
His simplicity in nature's simplicity,
And his awkward, gaunt, terrible figure,
Striding when there is wind and dusk,
With a tall stovepipe hat reaching the clouds!



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