Marred
Marred
This headache of a morning
is split wide open with birdsong,
such yipping and piping
and shrill whistling from the lawn,
the cardinal gloats in the elm’s top
and drives his sharp treble
like a nail into my eardrums.
And the sun bursts unannounced
into my bedroom, squats on the floor
in a yellow uniform and stares
at my eyes until they hurt.
Show me a door I can back out of
in my sullen clothes and come back in
dressed as I should be to delight
my wife’s eyes this summer morning.
Publication Details
Original Citation
Sparrow Magazine (July 1965) 21.
Word Count
93
Original Publication
Date Published
1965
Book Appearance
Complete Poems
152
Re-publication
North American Review (1974) 31.
Notes and Commentary