III

III

Immortal? . . . No,they cannot be, these people,nor I.Tired faces,eyes that have never seen the world,bodies that have never lived in air,lips that have never minted speech,they are the clipped and garbled,blocking the highway.They swarm and eddybetween the banks of glowing shopstowards the red meat,the potherbs,the cheapjacks,or surge inbefore the swift rushof the clanging trams,—pitiful, ugly, mean,encumbering.Immortal? . . .In a wood,watching the shadow of a birdleap from frond to frond of bracken,I am immortal.But these?F. S. Flint

Immortal? . . . No,they cannot be, these people,nor I.Tired faces,eyes that have never seen the world,bodies that have never lived in air,lips that have never minted speech,they are the clipped and garbled,blocking the highway.They swarm and eddybetween the banks of glowing shopstowards the red meat,the potherbs,the cheapjacks,or surge inbefore the swift rushof the clanging trams,—pitiful, ugly, mean,encumbering.Immortal? . . .In a wood,watching the shadow of a birdleap from frond to frond of bracken,I am immortal.But these?F. S. Flint

Immortal? . . . No,they cannot be, these people,nor I.

Immortal? . . . No,

they cannot be, these people,

nor I.

Tired faces,eyes that have never seen the world,bodies that have never lived in air,lips that have never minted speech,they are the clipped and garbled,blocking the highway.They swarm and eddybetween the banks of glowing shopstowards the red meat,the potherbs,the cheapjacks,or surge inbefore the swift rushof the clanging trams,—pitiful, ugly, mean,encumbering.

Tired faces,

eyes that have never seen the world,

bodies that have never lived in air,

lips that have never minted speech,

they are the clipped and garbled,

blocking the highway.

They swarm and eddy

between the banks of glowing shops

towards the red meat,

the potherbs,

the cheapjacks,

or surge in

before the swift rush

of the clanging trams,—

pitiful, ugly, mean,

encumbering.

Immortal? . . .In a wood,watching the shadow of a birdleap from frond to frond of bracken,I am immortal.

Immortal? . . .

In a wood,

watching the shadow of a bird

leap from frond to frond of bracken,

I am immortal.

But these?

But these?

F. S. Flint

F. S. Flint


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