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 />
Webster For<br />
ord<br />
DO you remember, O Delphic Apollo,<br />
The sunset hour by the river, when Mickey M’Grew<br />
Cried, “There’s a ghost,” and I, “It’s Delphic Apollo,”.<br />
And the son of the banker derided us, saying, “It’s light<br />
By the flags at the water’s edge, you half-witted fools.”<br />
And from thence, as the wearisome years rolled on, long after<br />
Poor Mickey fell down in the water tower to his death<br />
Down, down, through bellowing darkness, I carried<br />
The vision which perished with him like a rocket which falls<br />
And quenches its light in earth, and hid it for fear<br />
Of the son of the banker, calling on Plutus to save me?<br />
Avenged were you for the shame of a fearful heart<br />
Who left me alone till I saw you again in an hour<br />
When I seemed to be turned to a tree with trunk and branches<br />
Growing indurate, turning to stone, yet burgeoning<br />
In laurel leaves, in hosts of lambent laurel,<br />
Quivering, fluttering, shrinking, fighting the numbness<br />
Creeping into their veins from the dying trunk and branches!<br />
’Tis vain, O youth, to fly the call of Apollo.<br />
Fling yourselves in the fire, die with a song of spring,<br />
If die you must in the spring. For none shall look<br />
On the face of Apollo and live, and choose you must<br />
‘Twixt death in the flame and death after years of sorrow,<br />
Rooted fast in the earth, feeling the grisly hand,<br />
Not so much in the trunk as in the terrible numbness<br />
Creeping up to the laurel leaves that never cease<br />
To flourish until you fall. O leaves of me<br />
Too sere for coronal wreaths, and fit alone<br />
For urns of memory, treasured, perhaps, as themes<br />
For hearts heroic, fearless singers and livers—<br />
Delphic Apollo.<br />
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