Spoon River Anthology - Penn State University
Spoon River Anthology - Penn State University
Spoon River Anthology - Penn State University
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<strong>Spoon</strong> <strong>River</strong> <strong>Anthology</strong><br />
Per<br />
erciv<br />
cival Sharp<br />
OBSERVE the clasped hands!<br />
Are they hands of farewell or greeting,<br />
Hands that I helped or hands that helped me?<br />
Would it not be well to carve a hand<br />
With an inverted thumb, like Elagabalus?<br />
And yonder is a broken chain,<br />
The weakest-link idea perhaps—but what was it?<br />
And lambs, some lying down,<br />
Others standing, as if listening to the shepherd—<br />
Others bearing a cross, one foot lifted up—<br />
Why not chisel a few shambles?<br />
And fallen columns!<br />
Carve the pedestal, please,<br />
Or the foundations; let us see the cause of the fall.<br />
And compasses and mathematical instruments,<br />
In irony of the under tenants, ignorance<br />
Of determinants and the calculus of variations.<br />
And anchors, for those who never sailed.<br />
And gates ajar—yes, so they were;<br />
You left them open and stray goats entered your garden.<br />
And an eye watching like one of the Arimaspi—<br />
So did you—with one eye.<br />
And angels blowing trumpets—you are heralded—<br />
It is your horn and your angel and your family’s estimate.<br />
It is all very well, but for myself<br />
I know I stirred certain vibrations in <strong>Spoon</strong> <strong>River</strong><br />
Which are my true epitaph, more lasting than stone.<br />
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