The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sword Blades and Poppy Seed, by Amy Lowell

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Title: Sword Blades and Poppy Seed

Author: Amy Lowell

Posting Date: August 3, 2008 [EBook #1020]
Release Date: August, 1997

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SWORD BLADES AND POPPY SEED ***

Produced by Alan R. Light

SWORD BLADES AND POPPY SEED

by Amy Lowell

[American (Massachusetts) poet, 1874-1925.]

[Note on text: Lines longer than 78 characters have been cut and
continued on the next line, which is indented 2 spaces unless in a prose
poem.]

SWORD BLADES AND POPPY SEED

_"Face invisible! je t'ai gravee en medailles
D'argent doux comme l'aube pale,
D'or ardent comme le soleil,
D'airain sombre comme la nuit;
Il y en a de tout metal,
Qui tintent clair comme la joie,
Qui sonnent lourd comme la gloire,
Comme l'amour, comme la mort;
Et j'ai fait les plus belles de belle argile
Seche et fragile.

"Une a une, vous les comptiez en souriant,
Et vous disiez: Il est habile;
Et vous passiez en souriant.

"Aucun de vous n'a donc vu
Que mes mains tremblaient de tendresse,
Que tout le grand songe terrestre
Vivait en moi pour vivre en eux
Que je gravais aux metaux pieux,
Mes Dieux."_

Henri de Regnier, "Les Medailles d'Argile".

Preface

No one expects a man to make a chair without first learning how, but
there is a popular impression that the poet is born, not made, and that
his verses burst from his overflowing heart of themselves. As a matter
of fact, the poet must learn his trade in the same manner, and with the
same painstaking care, as the cabinet-maker. His heart may overflow with
high thoughts and sparkling fancies, but if he cannot convey them to his
reader by means of the written word he has no claim to be considered a
poet. A workman may be pardoned, therefore, for spending a few moments
to explain and describe the technique of his trade. A work of beauty
which cannot stand an intimate examination is a poor and jerry-built
thing.

In the first place, I wish