Crude Lament by William Carlos Williams

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend October 29, 2016   Crude Lament   William Carlos Williams

Mother of flames,        The men that went ahunting Are asleep in the snow drifts.        You have kept the fire burning! Crooked fingers that pull Fuel from among the wet leaves,        Mother of flames        You have kept the fire burning! The young wives have fallen asleep With wet hair, weeping,        Mother of flames! The young men raised the heavy spears And are gone prowling in the darkness.        O mother of flames,        You who have kept the fire burning!        Lo, I am helpless! Would God they had taken me with them!            This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   "Crude Lament" was published in The Tempers (Elkin Mathews, 1913).   William Carlos Williams was born on September 17, 1883, in Rutherford, New Jersey. His collections of poetry include Spring and All (Contact Publishing Co., 1923) and the five-volume epic Paterson (New Directions, 1963). He died on March 4, 1963.   Poetry by Williams   Spring and All (Martino Fine Books, 2015)  "Of the Surface of Things" by Wallace Stevens "October (section I)" by Louise Glück "Coda" by Ezra Pound Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.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