Death & Dying

Death

by Maxwell Bodenheim 1892–1954

From Modern American Poetry (1921)

Death & Dying

I shall walk down the road;
I shall turn and feel upon my feet
The kisses of Death, like scented rain.
For Death is a black slave with little silver birds
Perched in a sleeping wreath upon his head.
He will tell me, his voice like jewels
Dropped into a satin bag,
How he has tip-toed after me down the road,
His heart made a dark whirlpool with longing for me.
Then he will graze me with his hands,
And I shall be one of the sleeping, silver birds
Between the cold waves of his hair, as he tip-toes on.

MLA

Bodenheim, Maxwell. “Death.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/bodenheim/2/.

Chicago

Bodenheim, Maxwell. “Death.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/bodenheim/2/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Maxwell Bodenheim