To One Dead
I walked upon a hill
And the wind, made solemnly drunk with your presence,
Reeled against me.
I stooped to question a flower,
And you floated between my fingers and the petals,
Tying them together.
I severed a leaf from its tree
And a water-drop in the green flagon
Cupped a hunted bit of your smile.
All things about me were steeped in your remembrance
And shivering as they tried to tell me of it.
Credit
This poem is in the public domain.
About this Poem
“To One Dead” was first published in Bodenheim’s book Minna and Myself (Pagan, 1918).
Author
Maxwell Bodenheim
Maxwell Bodenheim, born in 1892 in Hermanville, Mississippi, was a poet and novelist active in the early twentieth-century literary scenes of Chicago and New York’s Greenwich Village. He wrote many books, including Minna and Myself (Pagan Publishing Company, 1918); Advice (Alfred A. Knopf, 1920); Introducing Irony (Boni and Liveright, 1922); and the novel Blackguard (Covici-McGee Publishers, 1923).
Date Published
11/09/2014