Advice: A Book of Poems

<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</SPAN></span> <h2 class="nobreak">INSANITY</h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Like a vivid hyperbole,</div> <div class="verse">The sun plunged into April&#8217;s freshness,</div> <div class="verse">And struck its sparkling madness</div> <div class="verse">Against the barnlike dejection</div> <div class="verse">Of this dark red insane asylum.</div> <div class="verse">A softly clutching noise</div> <div class="verse">Stumbled from the open windows.</div> <div class="verse">Now and then obliquely reeling shrieks</div> <div class="verse">Rose, as though from men</div> <div class="verse">To whom death had assumed</div> <div class="verse">An inexpressibly kindly face.</div> <div class="verse">A man stood at one window,</div> <div class="verse">His gaunt face trembling underneath</div> <div class="verse">A feverish jauntiness.</div> <div class="verse">A long white feather slanted back</div> <div class="verse">Upon his almost shapeless hat,</div> <div class="verse">Like an innocent evasion.</div> <div class="verse">Hotly incessant, his voice</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</SPAN></span> <div class="verse">Methodically flogged the April air:</div> <div class="verse">A voice that held the clashing bones</div> <div class="verse">Of happiness and fear;</div> <div class="verse">A voice in which emotion</div> <div class="verse">Sharply ridiculed itself;</div> <div class="verse">A monstrously vigorous voice</div> <div class="verse">Mockingly tearing at life</div> <div class="verse">With an unanswerable question.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Hollowed out by his howl,</div> <div class="verse">I turned and saw an asylum guard.</div> <div class="verse">His petulantly flabby face</div> <div class="verse">Rolled into deathlike chips of eyes.</div> <div class="verse">He bore the aimless confidence</div> <div class="verse">Of one contentedly playing with other men&#8217;s wings.</div> <div class="verse">He walked away; the man above still shrieked.</div> <div class="verse">I could not separate them.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />