Sun-Up
(Shadows over a cradle... fire-light craning..., A hand throws something in the fire and a smaller hand runs into the flame and out again, singed and empty..., Shadows settling over a cradle... two hands and a fire.)
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Long vast shapes... cooled and flushed through with darkness... Lidless windows Glazed with a flashy luster From some little pert café chirping up like a sparrow. And down among iron guts Piled silver Throwing gray spatter of light... pale without heat... Like the pallor of dead bodies.
(Shadows over a cradle... fire-light craning..., A hand throws something in the fire and a smaller hand runs into the flame and out again, singed and empty..., Shadows settling over a cradle... two hands and a fire.)
Cherry, cherry, glowing on the hearth, bright red cherry... When you try to pick up cherry Celia's shriek sticks in you like a pin.
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When God throws hailstones you cuddle in Celia's shawl and press your feet on her belly high up like a stool. When Celia makes umbrella of her hand. Rain falls through big pink spokes of her fingers. When wind blows Celia's gown up off her legs she runs under pillars of the bank— great round pillars of the bank have on white stockings too.
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Celia says my father will bring me a golden bowl. When I think of my father I cannot see him for the big yellow bowl like the moon with two handles he carries in front of him.
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Grandpa, grandpa... (Light all about you... ginger...pouring out of green jars...) You don't believe he has gone away and left his great coat... so you pretend...you see his face up in the ceiling. When you clap your hands and cry, grandpa, grandpa, grandpa, Celia crosses herself.
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It isn't a dream... It comes again and again... You hear ivy crying on steeples the flames haven't caught yet and images screaming when they see red light on the lilies on the stained glass window of St. Joseph. The girl with the black eyes holds you tight, and you run...and run past the wild, wild towers... and trees in the gardens tugging at their feet and little frightened dolls shut up in the shops crying...and crying...because no one stops... you spin like a penny thrown out in the street. Then the man clutches her by the hair... He always clutches her by the hair... His eyes stick out like spears. You see her pulled-back face and her black, black eyes lit up by the glare... Then everything goes out. Please God, don't let me dream any more of the girl with the black, black eyes.
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Celia's shadow rocks and rocks... and mama's eyes stare out of the pillow as though she had gone away and the night had come in her place as it comes in empty rooms... you can't bear it— the night threshing about and lashing its tail on its sides as bold as a wolf that isn't afraid—and you scream at her face, that is white as a stone on a grave and pull it around to the light, till the night draws backward...the night that walks alone and goes away without end. Mama says, I am cold, Betty, and shivers. Celia tucks the quilt about her feet, but I run for my little red cloak because red is hot like fire.
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I wish Celia could see the sea climb up on the sky and slide off again... ...Celia saying I'd beg the world with you... Celia...holding on to the cab... hands wrenched away... wind in the masts...like Celia crying... Celia never minded if you slapped her when the comb made your hairs ache, but though you rub your cheek against mama's hand she has not said darling since... Now I will slap her again... I will bite her hand till it bleeds. It is cool by the port hole. The wet rags of the wind flap in your face.
Your love was like moonlight
turning harsh things to beauty,
so that little wry souls
reflecting each other obliquely
as in cracked mirrors . . .
beheld in your luminous spirit
their own reflection,
transfigured as in a shining stream,
and loved you for what they are not.
You are less an image in my mind
than a luster
I see you in gleams
pale as star-light on a gray wall . . .
evanescent as the reflection of a white swan
shimmering in broken water.
(In Springfield, Illinois) It is portentous, and a thing of state That here at midnight, in our little town A mourning figure walks, and will not rest, Near the old court-house pacing up and down, Or by his homestead, or in shadowed yards He lingers where his children used to play, Or through the market, on the well-worn stones He stalks until the dawn-stars burn away. A bronzed, lank man! His suit of ancient black, A famous high top-hat and plain worn shawl Make him the quaint great figure that men love, The prairie-lawyer, master of us all. He cannot sleep upon his hillside now. He is among us:—as in times before! And we who toss and lie awake for long, Breathe deep, and start, to see him pass the door. His head is bowed. He thinks of men and kings. Yea, when the sick world cries, how can he sleep? Too many peasants fight, they know not why; Too many homesteads in black terror weep. The sins of all the war-lords burn his heart. He sees the dreadnaughts scouring every main. He carries on his shawl-wrapped shoulders now The bitterness, the folly and the pain. He cannot rest until a spirit-dawn Shall come;—the shining hope of Europe free: A league of sober folk, the Workers' Earth, Bringing long peace to Cornland, Alp and Sea. It breaks his heart that things must murder still, That all his hours of travail here for men Seem yet in vain. And who will bring white peace That he may sleep upon his hill again?