Stains
Theodosia Garrison 1874 – 1944
The three ghosts on the lonesome road
Spake each to one another,
"Whence came that stain about your mouth
No lifted hand may cover?"
"From eating of forbidden fruit,
Brother, my brother."
The three ghosts on the sunless road
Spake each to one another,
"Whence came that red burn on your foot
No dust nor ash may cover?"
"I stamped a neighbor's hearth-flame out,
Brother, my brother."
The three ghosts on the windless road
Spake each to one another,
"Whence came that blood upon your hand
No other hand may cover?"
"From breaking of a woman's heart,
Brother, my brother."
"Yet on the earth clean men we walked,
Glutton and Thief and Lover;
White flesh and fair it hid our stains
That no man might discover."
"Naked the soul goes up to God,
Brother, my brother."
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 96 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | aBxbxB aBxbxB aBxbxB xbxbxB |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 804 |
Words | 146 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
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"Stains" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/43521/stains>.
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