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Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

Mask

Carl Sandburg

Fling your red scarf faster and faster, dancer.
It is summer and the sun loves a million green leaves,
     masses of green.
Your red scarf flashes across them calling and a-calling.
The silk and flare of it is a great soprano leading a
     chorus
Carried along in a rouse of voices reaching for the heart
     of the world.
Your toes are singing to meet the song of your arms:

Let the red scarf go swifter.
Summer and the sun command you.
Online text © 1998-2009 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Chicago Poems | Henry Holt & Company, 1916
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