American poet (1898-1943)
Why have you taken my heart from me?
I am not justice nor loyalty.
I am the shape of the weathercock,
That all winds come to and all winds mock.
You are the image of the sea-carved stone,
The silent thing that can suffer alone,
The little women are easier,
The easy women make lighter love,
I will not take your face to war,
I will not carry your cast-off glove.
STEPHEN VINCENT BENÉT
John Brown's Body
For the cold of the pistol-butt and the bullet's heat,
For the ropes that choke, the manacles that bind,
The huge voice, metal, that lies from a thousand tubes
And the stuttering machine-gun that answers all.
STEPHEN VINCENT BENÉT
"Litany for Dictatorships", Young Adventure
Love is not a delicate toying,
A slim and shimmering mesh;
It is two souls wrenched into one,
Two bodies made one flesh.
STEPHEN VINCENT BENÉT
Young Adventure
There is a wilderness we walk alone
However well-companioned
STEPHEN VINCENT BENÉT
Western Star