Donald Justice Long Poems
- 1. A Dancer's Life
The lights in the theater fail. The long racks
Of costumes abandoned by the other dancers
Trouble Celeste. The conductor asks
If she is sad because autumn is coming on,
... - 2. Sadness
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Dear ghosts, dear presences, O my dear parents,
Why were you so sad on porches, whispering?
What great melancholies were loosed among our swings!
... - 3. American Sketches
CROSSING KANSAS BY TRAIN
The telephone poles
Have been holding their
... - 4. Counting The Mad
This one was put in a jacket,
This one was sent home,
This one was given bread and meat
But would eat none,
... - 5. Poem
This poem is not addressed to you.
You may come into it briefly,
But no one will find you here, no one.
You will have changed before the poem will.
... - 6. Villanelle At Sundown
Turn your head. Look. The light is turning yellow.
The river seems enriched thereby, not to say deepened.
Why this is, I'll never be able to tell you.
... - 7. Nostalgia And Complaint Of The Grandparents
Les morts
Câ??est sous terre;
Ã?a nâ??en sort
Guère.
...
