Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ROSES IN THE SUBWAY by DANA BURNET

First Line: A WAN-CHEEKED GIRL WITH FADED EYES
Last Line: MY MOTHER ... STOOPING DOWN.
Subject(s): COMMUTERS; NEW YORK CITY; STEEL; SUBWAYS; MANHATTAN; NEW YORK, NEW YORK; THE BIG APPLE;

A wan-cheeked girl with faded eyes
Came stumbling down the crowded car,
Clutching her burden to her breast
As though she held a star.

Roses, I swear it! Red and sweet
And struggling from her pinched white hands,
Roses ... like captured hostages
From far and fairy lands!

The thunder of the rushing train
Was like a hush ... The flower scent
Breathed faintly on the stale, whirled air
Like some dim sacrament—

I saw a garden stretching out
And morning on it like a crown—
And o'er a bed of crimson bloom
My mother ... stooping down.



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