Friday, January 9, 2009

Poppies in October



Poppies in October


Even the sun-clouds this morning
cannot manage such skirts.
Nor the woman in the ambulance
Whose red heart blooms
through her coat so astoundingly --

A gift, a love gift
Utterly unasked for
By a sky

Palely and flamily
Igniting its carbon monoxides, by eyes
Dulled to a halt under bowlers.

O my God, what am I
That these late mouths should cry open
In a forest of frost,
in a dawn of cornflowers.

Sylvia Plath

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