January 1, 1940
Variations on a Summer Day
I Say of the gulls that they are flying In light blue air over dark blue sea. II A music more than a breath, but less Than the wind, sub-music […]
January 1, 1940
For Sigmund Freud
When there are so many we shall have to mourn, When grief has been made so public, and exposed To the critique of a whole epoch The frailty of our conscience […]
January 1, 1940
The Paradox in the Circle
Escapist’s Song “The first woman I loved,” he said— “Her skin was satin and gold.” “The next woman I loved,” he said— “Her skin was satin and gold.” “The third […]
October 1, 1939
Address to the Scholars of New England (Harvard Phi Beta Kappa Poem, June 23, 1939)
When Sarah Pierrepont let her spirit rage, Her love and scorn refused the bauble earth (Which took bloom even here, under the Bear) And groped for the Essence sitting in […]
October 1, 1939
The Trout Map
The Management Area of Cherokee National Forest, interested in fish, Has mapped Tellico and Bald Rivers And North River, with the tributaries Brookshire Branch and Sugar Cove Creek: A fishy […]
October 1, 1939
A Turning Wind
Knowing the shape of the country. Knowing the midway travels of migrant fanatics, living that life, up with the dawn andmoving as long as the light lasts, and when the sun […]
July 1, 1939
Letter to His Brother
The night is on these hills, and some can sleep.Some stare into the dark, some walk.Only the sound of glasses and of talk,Of cracking logs, and of a few who […]
July 1, 1939
Nineteen Thirty-Eight
Across the frontiers of the helpless worldThe great planes swarm, the carriers of death,Germs in the healthy body of the air,And blast our cities where we stand in talk By doomed […]
July 1, 1939
The Furnishings of a House
The incommensurate odds and ends arrangeA riotous paisely table by my loungeAnd are the most of grace that I can showTo you, critical caller at my infare,Stiff in my ladder-back, […]
July 1, 1939
Poem
“If my head hurt a hair’s footPack back the downed bone. If the unpricked ball of my breathBump on a spout let the bubbles jump out.Sooner drop with the worm […]
April 1, 1939
The Interrupted Concert
From the Spanish. The sleepy frozen caldronOf the half moonBroke the harmonyOf the deep night. The ditches, musty with sedge,Protest in silence,And the frogs, muezzins of shadow,Keep very still. […]
April 1, 1939
Walking Asleep
From the Spanish. Green as I would have you be,Green wind. Green boughs.The boat on the sea,And the horse on the mountain.With shadow at her waist,She dreams at the […]