The Party
The obscene hostess, mincing in the hall,
Gathers the guests around a crystal ball.
It is on the whole an exciting moment;
Mrs.
Lefevre stares with her one good eye;
A friendly abdomen rubs against one’s back; “Interesting,” a portly man is heard to sigh.
A somewhat unconvincing oriental leers Redundantly; into the globe he peers,
Mutters a word or two and stands aside.
The glass grows cloudy with sulphorous fumes;
Beads rattle, latecomers giggle near the door.
A scene forms in the glass; silence invades the rooms.
The oriental glances up, conceals surprise At such immediate success.
Our eyes Stare at the planes that fill the swelling globe,
Smoke-blue; blood, shelltorn faces.
Suddenly a drum Begins its steady beat, pursues us even here:
Death, and death again, and all the wars to come.
Weldon Kees
Другие работы автора
Statement With Rhymes
Plurality is all I walk among the restaurants, the theatres, the grocery stores; I ride the cars and hear of Mrs Bedford’s teeth and Albuquerque, strikes unsettled, someone’s simply marvelous date, news of the German Jews, the baseb...
For My Daughter
Looking into my daughter’s eyes I read Beneath the innocence of morning flesh Concealed, hintings of death she does not heed Coldest of winds have blown this hair, and mesh Of seaweed snarled these miniatures of hands; The night’s slow p...
Saratoga Ending
1 Iron, sulphur, steam: the wastes Of all resorts like this have left their traces Old canes and crutches line the walls Light Floods the room, stripped from the pool, broken And shimmering like scales
Girl At Midnight
Then walk the floor, or twist upon your bed While bullets, cold and blind, rush backward from the target’s eye, And say, “I will not dream that dream again I will not dream Of long-spent whispers vanishing down corridors That turn throug...
