ADVICE TO A CITY
O city, cage your poets! Hem them in
And roof them over from the April sky—
And drown their voices with your thunder cry.
And harness them to daily ruts of stone—
And never, never let them be alone!
And freedom gives their tongues uncanny wit,
They (absit omen!) might make Song of it.
And keep them busy with their daily bread;
To interrupt them ere the word be said....
With wasted sunsets and frustrated youth,
The savage, sweet, unpalatable truth!