Poem by Elinor Wylie

A Crowded Trolley-Car

The rain’s cold grains are silver-gray 
Sharp as golden sands, 
A bell is clanging, people sway 
Hanging by their hands.

Supple hands, or gnarled and stiff, 
Snatch and catch and grope; 
That face is yellow-pale, as if 
The fellow swung from rope.

Dull like pebbles, sharp like knives, 
Glances strike and glare, 
Fingers tangle, Bluebeard’s wives 
Dangle by the hair.

Orchard of the strangest fruits 
Hanging from the skies; 
Brothers, yet insensate brutes 
Who fear each other’s eyes.

One man stands as free men stand, 
As if his soul might be 
Brave, unbroken; see his hand 
Nailed to an oaken tree.

1. The Fairy Goldsmith
2. Silver Filigree
3. Address to My Soul
4. Little Joke
5. Parting Gift

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