Living In Sin

A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)

She had thought the studio would keep itself;

no dust upon the furniture of love.

Half heresy, to wish the taps less vocal,

the panes relieved of grime. A plate of pears,

a piano with a Persian shawl, a cat

stalking the picturesque amusing mouse

had risen at his urging.

Not that at five each separate stair would writhe

under the milkman’s tramp; that morning light

so coldly would delineate the scraps

of last night’s cheese and three sepulchral bottles;

that on the kitchen shelf amoong the saucers

a pair of beetle-eyes would fix her own–

envoy from some village in the moldings…

Meanwhile, he, with a yawn,

sounded a dozen notes upon the keyboard,

declared it out of tune, shrugged at the mirror,

rubbed at his beard, went out for cigarettes;

while she, jeered by the minor demons,

pulled back the sheets and made the bed and found

a towel to dust the table-top,

and let the coffee-pot boil over on the stove.

By evening she was back in love again,

though not so wholly but throughout the night

she woke sometimes to feel the daylight coming

like a relentless milkman up the stairs.

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Poems in English 

• The Eagle That is Forgotten by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Drunkards in the Street by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Dandelion by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Cornfields by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Congo: A Study of the Negro Race by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The City That Will Not Repent by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Chinese Nightingale by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Broncho That Would Not Be Broken by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Booker Washington Trilogy by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Beggar’s Valentine by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Bankrupt Peace-Maker by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Amaranth by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Alchemist’s Petition by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• Sweethearts of the Year by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• Sweet Briars of the Stairways by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• Sunshine by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• Star of My Heart by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• St. Francis of Assisi by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• Springfield Magical by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• Shakespeare by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay

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