Wallace Stevens - In the Carolinas

  In the Carolinas

 The lilacs wither in the Carolinas.
 Already the butterflies flutter above the cabins.
 Already the new-born children interpret love
 In the voices of mothers.

 Timeless mothers,
 How is it that your aspic nipples
 For once vent honey?

 The pine-tree sweetens my body
 The white iris beautifies me.

 [(from Harmonium, 1923, 1931)
 The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens, 1982]
 Copyright (c) 1923, 1931, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1942, 1943, 1944,
 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1954 Wallace Stevens