Death & Dying

A Grave Song

by Amy Lowell 1874–1925

From What's O'Clock (1925)

Death & Dying

I've a pocketful of emptiness for you, my Dear.
I've a heart like a loaf was baked yesteryear,
I've a mind like ashes spilt a week ago,

I've a hand like a rusty, cracked corkscrew.

Can you flourish on nothing and find it good?
Can you make petrifaction do for food?
Can you warm yourself at ashes on a stone?

Can you give my hand the cunning which has gone?

If you can, I will go and lay me down
And kiss the edge of your purple gown.
I will rise and walk with the sun on my head.

Will you walk with me, will you follow the dead?

MLA

Lowell, Amy. “A Grave Song.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/lowell_a/363/.

Chicago

Lowell, Amy. “A Grave Song.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/lowell_a/363/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

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