Austerity

From “Cold Hills”

I have lived so long	
On the cold hills alone …	
I loved the rock	
And the lean pine trees,	
Hated the life in the turfy meadow,
Hated the heavy, sensuous bees.	
I have lived so long	
Under the high monotony of starry skies,	
I am so cased about	
With the clean wind and the cold nights,
People will not let me in	
To their warm gardens	
Full of bees.

Credit

This poem is in the public domain.

Author

Janet Loxley Lewis

Janet Lowley Lewis was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1899 and attended the University of Chicago. There, she became friends with Glenway Wescott and Yvor Winters, whom she married in 1926. In 1929, she and Winters founded the literary magazine Gyroscope. She taught at Stanford University and at the University of California, Berkeley.

Date Published

01/01/1920