My bands of silk and miniver Momently grew heavier; The black gauze was beggarly thin; The ermine muffled mouth and chin; I could not suck the moonlight in. Harlequin in lozenges Of love and hate, I walked in these Striped and ragged rigmaroles; Along the pavement my footsoles Trod warily on living coals. Shouldering the thoughts I loathed, In their corrupt disguised clothed, Mortality I could not tear From my ribs, to leave them bare Ivory in silver air. There I walked, and there I raged; The spiritual savage caged Within my skeleton, raged afresh To feel, behind a carnal mesh, The clean bones crying in the flesh. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PLACES 1. TWILIGHT (TUCSON) by SARA TEASDALE THE WHITE ISLAND, OR PLACE OF THE BLEST by ROBERT HERRICK THE SWORD by ABU BAKR OF MARRAKESH AN ARAB WELCOME by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH MOUNT RAINIER by HERBERT BASHFORD |