Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MARSH SILVER by BENJAMIN ROSENBAUM

First Line: EVEN THE LOVERS GROW A LITTLE TIRED
Last Line: STILL DON'T YOU SEE: MY CIRCLE ENDS WITH YOU?

EVEN the lovers grow a little tired. . .
Marsh silver stirs the dark. . . Still don't you see?. . .
Marsh wind is rainy cool. I can be fired
To eagerness by rustling in a tree.

I want to walk -- to hear a slim fish splash
Or to be startled suddenly by wings.
A crippled thrush, lost in the black, might crash
Through underbrush. I shall hear lowly things.

A turtle scraping thrills me to the spine,
And crickets nibbling noisy edges make
Me comfortable. Entangled in a vine,
I shall be seated drowsily awake.

What if a grosbeak flying might. . . might brush
My arm! Azaleas have a lovely way
In moonlight. O if I could hear the rush
Of rain and touch, barefooted, softened clay!

I shall return. . . . Marsh fingers -- let them press
My forehead to a rain cool retinue.
I have grown eager for my loneliness. . .
Still don't you see: My circle ends with you?



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