THE acrid scents of autumn, Reminiscent of slinking beasts, make me fear Everything, tear-trembling stars of autumn And the snore of the night in my ear. For suddenly, flush-fallen, All my life, in a rush Of shedding away, has left me Naked, exposed on the bush. I, on the bush of the globe, Like a newly-naked berry, shrink Disclosed: but I also am prowling As well in the scents that slink Abroad: I in this naked berry Of flesh that stands dismayed on the bush; And I in the stealthy, brindled odours Prowling about the lush And acrid night of autumn; My soul, along with the rout, Rank and treacherous, prowling, Disseminated out. For the night, with a great breath intaken, Has taken my spirit outside Me, till I reel with disseminated consciousness, Like a man who has died. At the same time I stand exposed Here on the bush of the globe, A newly-naked berry of flesh For the stars to probe. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PAST IS THE PRESENT (2) by MARIANNE MOORE RAIN-SONGS by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR UPON PRUE, HIS MAID by ROBERT HERRICK TO A CHILD OF QUALITY, FIVE YEARS OLD. THE AUTHOR THAN FORTY by MATTHEW PRIOR NORTH-WEST PASSAGE: 3. IN PORT by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON I WOULD BE THE SUN by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS THE SONG OF THE ILL-BELOVED; TO PAUL LEAUTARD by GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE |