T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
The Answer
By Orrick Johns (1887–1946)(From Asphalt and Other Poems, 1917) |
“CRYING cranes and wheeling crows … | |
| I’ll remember them,” she said; | |
| And I will be your own, God knows, | |
| And the sin be on my head. | |
| “I will be your own and glad; | 5 |
| Lovers would be fools to care | |
| How a thing is good or bad, | |
| When the sky is everywhere … | |
| “I will be your own,” she said, | |
| “Because your voice is like the rain, | 10 |
| And your kiss is wine and bread | |
| Better than my father’s grain.” | |
| So I took her where she spoke. | |
| Breasts of snow and burning mouth … | |
| Crying cranes and drifting smoke | 15 |
| And the blackbirds wheeling south. | |