Page:Anthology of Magazine Verse (1921).djvu/108
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Scrub trees crouched low on mountainside,
Their fingers locked and bared
Upon black rocks; at base great spruce
Stood close and leaned and stared.
Their fingers locked and bared
Upon black rocks; at base great spruce
Stood close and leaned and stared.
The house, with up-curled shingles, hugged
The ground, a silent thing,
Like a gray bird squatting on its perch
In a cage, and cannot sing.
The ground, a silent thing,
Like a gray bird squatting on its perch
In a cage, and cannot sing.
When she went up to bake for him,
To tend the house and such,
His deafness was a sorry chafe
She pitied overmuch.
To tend the house and such,
His deafness was a sorry chafe
She pitied overmuch.
A day came when he ceased to speak;
She did not care, for he
Was far more ugly in his speech
Than there was need to be.
She did not care, for he
Was far more ugly in his speech
Than there was need to be.
But when the long days dragged on by
Without a word from him,
The crumbs of peace fell from her mind
As leaves drop from a limb.
Without a word from him,
The crumbs of peace fell from her mind
As leaves drop from a limb.
At first she zigzagged in her mind
'Twixt old Hen Levy's Place
And his: she knew Four Corners brooked
No showing of her face.
'Twixt old Hen Levy's Place
And his: she knew Four Corners brooked
No showing of her face.
And then she planned shrill words to shriek
To stab his deafness through;
And he would watch, with cunning eye,
Her stirred mind's boil and brew.
To stab his deafness through;
And he would watch, with cunning eye,
Her stirred mind's boil and brew.
Then slyly he would egg her on:
He'd cup his ear with hand,
The while her throat rasped hoarse with words
She hoped he's understand.
He'd cup his ear with hand,
The while her throat rasped hoarse with words
She hoped he's understand.
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