Apostate by Léonie Adams

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend May 10, 2014   Apostate   Léonie Adams

From weariness I looked out on the stars     And there beheld them, fixed in throbbing joy, Nor racked by such mad dance of moods as mars     For us each moment’s grace with swift alloy. And as they pierced the heavens’ serene deep     An envy of that one consummate part Swept me, who mock. Whether I laugh or weep,     Some inner silences are at my heart. Cold shame is mine for all the masks I wear,     Belying that in me which shines and sings Before Him, to face down man’s alien stare—     A graceless puppet on unmeaning strings, I that looked out, and saw, and was at rest,     Stars, and faint wings, rose-etched along the west.            This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   “Apostate” by Léonie Adams was Adams’s first published poem. It appeared in the August 1921 issue of The New Republic.   Léonie Adams, an educator, editor, and poet, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899. She was best known for her meticulously crafted lyric poetry, which fused Romantic and Metaphysical elements. Adams was the Poetry Consultant for the Library of Congress (now the U.S. Poet Laureate) from 1948-1949. Poetry by Adams   Poems: A Selection (Noonday Press, 1959) "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" by Walt Whitman "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold "Because I could not stop for Death (712)" by Emily Dickinson Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit poets.org   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038