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William Jay Smith Quotes

1918–2015 United States

William Jay Smith (April 22, 1918 – August 18, 2015) was an American poet. He was appointed the nineteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1968 to 1970.

United States
Poets

Random William Jay Smith quote

10 quotes

The lariat snaps; the cowboy rolls
His pack, and mounts and rides away.
Back to the land the cowboy goes.

Tasting of the sweet damp woods and of the rain one inch
above the meadow:
It was like feasting upon air.

And I’ll love you as long
As the furrow the plow,
As However is Ever,
And Ever is Now.

And life is a rain-swept mirror
Through which perpetually
A girl with bright hair flowing,
Dappled dark coat blowing,
Into the unknown, knowing,
Walks with me.

Not ringed but rare, not gilled but polyp-like,
having sprung up overnight—
These mushrooms of the gods, resembling human organs
uprooted, rooted only on the air

I know a place all fennel-green and fine
Far from the white ice cap, the glacial flaw,
Where shy mud hen and dainty porcupine
Dance in delight by a quivering pawpaw

A silver-scaled dragon with jaws flaming red
Sits at my elbow and toasts my bread.
I hand him fat slices, and then, one by one,
He hands them back when he sees they are done.

Thinking of you this evening,
I think of mystery;
I think of umbrellas of crystal
Shading a cinnamon sea

He hangs in the hall by his black cravat,
The ladies faint, and the children holler:
Only my Daddy could look like that,
And I love my Daddy like he loves his Dollar.

Now touch the air softly,
Step gently. One, two...
I’ll love you till roses
Are robin’s-egg blue;
I’ll love you till gravel
Is eaten for bread,
And lemons are orange,
And lavender’s red.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William Jay Smith (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.