Monday, February 07, 2005

The Fur Coat

I walked out in my Coat of Pride,
I looked about on every side,
And said the mountain should not be
Just where they were, and that the sea
Was badly placed, and that the beech
Should be an oak - and then from each
I turned in dignity as if
They were not there : I sniffed a sniff,
And climbed upon my sunny shelf,
And sneezed a while, and scratched myself.

This poem is taken from A Poetry Recital, published in June 1925. A a collection of poems Stephens used during his first American speaking tour in 1925. As such, the poems selected were those which could be read aloud with effect, and some are less poems than vocal excercises.
Two editions, a New York and a London one, were published in 1925 with slightly differing order and content. A new edition, dated 1926, added a foreward and seven poems to the 1925 American version. The new poems were: "Little Things," "The Snare," "The Merry Music," "The Fifteen Acres," "The Crest Jewel," "Thy Soul," and "Christmas in Freelands."

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