Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Smoke and Steel. 1922.
VIII. Circles of Doors8. Woman with a Past
T
And slashed the white skin of her right shoulder
And a crimson zigzag wrote a finger nail hurry.
And quit a life that was old to her
For a life that was new.
And gave hoarse whisper to a prayer
And it was all over.
She was a thing to be used and played with.
She wore an ancient scarlet sash.
White as a face in the first apple blossoms,
White as a birch in the snow of a winter moon.
There are white lips whisper alone.
There are red lips whisper alone.
In the white of the old walls,
The red song is over.