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A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

The Cold Night

William Carlos Williams

It is cold.  The white moon
is up among her scattered stars—
like the bare thighs of
the Police Sergeant’s wife—among
her five children . . .
No answer.  Pale shadows lie upon
the frosted grass.  One answer:
It is midnight, it is still
and it is cold . . . !
White thights of the sky! a
new answer out of the depths of
my male belly:  In April . . .
In April I shall see again—In April!
the round and perfects thighs
of the Police Sergeant’s wife
perfect still after many babies.
Oya!
Online text © 1998-2013 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Sour Grapes | The Four Seas Company, 1921
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