Short Poems of John Frederick Nims
AT DAWN
“Living!” I grieved. “Each heartheat, touch-and-go.
Sleepy, you touch and grin: “What touches, though!”
Sleepy, you touch and grin: “What touches, though!”
DAYS OF OUR YEARS
It’s brief and bright, dear children; bright and brief.
Delight’s the lightning; the long thunder’s grief.
Delight’s the lightning; the long thunder’s grief.
LOVE AND DEATH
And yet a kiss (like blubber) ‘d blur and slip,
Without the assuring skull beneath the lip.
Without the assuring skull beneath the lip.
RANSFUSION
Three rattlers sank their fangs in Dr. Crudd.
“Thank you” he bowed. “It much improves the blood.”
“Thank you” he bowed. “It much improves the blood.”
PASTORAL
Once Cruddy in the countryside
Touched poison ivy. And it died.
Touched poison ivy. And it died.
PHILOSOPHER
He scowled at the barometer: “Will it rain?”
None heard, with all that pattering on the pane.
None heard, with all that pattering on the pane.
THE VISIT
I loved a girl. She died. I stood here, so;
Stared at the something strangers put below.
Again I stand a moment. Not to stay.
Evenings she’d tease, “Don’t wait if I’m away.”
DEATH
The flesh, when crisp as snow and tulip, takes
Its color from corruption: all life through
Feeds on the death of fields, of fin and wing. And
Taints, like the bitter gruel on which it grew.
Its color from corruption: all life through
Feeds on the death of fields, of fin and wing. And
Taints, like the bitter gruel on which it grew.
LOVERS
And here the two by the one grievance haunted
Lie in the dark. But not the dark they wanted.
Lie in the dark. But not the dark they wanted.