Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.
The CyclistsAmy Lowell
S
With open-blown jackets
Like black, soaring pinions,
They swoop down the hill-side,
The Cyclists.
Birds, after carrion,
Careening and circling,
Over the dying
Of England.
Beneath them, no longer
The Dominant Mother,
The Virile—but rotting
Before time.
Has bitten their nostrils.
Exultant they hover,
And shadow the sun with
Foreboding.