Young Adventure [20]
Ice was her chastity,
Spotless her honor.
Neighbors, with breasts of snow,
Dames of much virtue,
How she could flame and glow!
Lord, how she hurt you!
She was a woman, and
Tender -- at times!
(Delicate was her hand)
One of her crimes!
Hair that strayed elfinly,
Lips red as haws,
You, with the ready lie,
Was that the cause?
Rest you, my enemy,
Slain without fault,
Life smacks but tastelessly
Lacking your salt!
Stuck in a bog whence naught
May catapult me,
Come from the grave, long-sought,
Come and insult me!
WE knew that sugared stuff
Poisoned the other;
Rough as the wind is rough,
Sister and brother!
Breathing the ether clear
Others forlorn have found --
Oh, for that peace austere
She and her scorn have found!
Biographical Note:
Stephen Vincent Bene't (22 July 1898 - 13 March 1943) was from a family
with roots in Florida, which explains the Spanish name. Although born
in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, his father was a colonel in the U.S. Army,
and hence he grew up in California and Georgia. He attended Yale
starting in 1915 and that same year published his first book of poems,
`Five Men and Pompey'. `Young Adventure' (1918) is considered
his first mature book of poetry, and he went on to win two Pulitzer Prizes,
in 1929 for `John Brown's Body' and in 1944 for `Western Star'.
It appears that the whole family had great talents, as his grandfather
was a Brigadier General, his father a Colonel, and both Stephen
and his brother William Rose Benet won Pulitzer Prizes for poetry.
End