Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LOUISIANA, by K. O. HAAS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LOUISIANA, by                    
First Line: Ah, how she is lovely, my louisiana!
Last Line: For who has known her never can forget.
Subject(s): Louisiana


Ah, how she is lovely, my Louisiana!
Her hair a tangled thicket and her eyes
Are tawny pools all heavy-lashed with reeds;
Calm, sleepy-lidded, but with unknown depth.
Her mouth a scarlet flower of the swamps
And Oh, the jasmine sweetness of her breath!

Her body too a thing of loveliness;
Not with the thin, cold sweetness of the North,
Nor with the buxom bounty of the West,
But with soft curves and languid grace,
A vagrant, gypsy beauty truly formed
For lure and love and laughter, for romance.

I fear she is a slattern in her dress,
Her garments ragged and her ankles bare;
But there are wondrous colors to her gowns!
Purple of cane, the cool young green of rice,
Blue of the gulf, a thousand radiant hues
And always fragrant flowers on her breast.

Her voice has a strange music all its own
So slow, so low and yet so deep, so clear;
Like the slow drip of syrup or the juice
Of golden oranges all acid sweet.
Thru it run bird notes and plantation bells,
The wind blowing thru the cane, a strummed guitar.

She seems the embodiment of man's desire,
Lips full of kisses and eyes full of dreams,
And yet she can be fierce and cruel too
Breaking a man's heart with her savage moods,
Driving him from her till at last he seeks
A milder mistress in the North or West.

But not for him their purer, colder love.
He has known passion that they may not know,—
Love, hate, desire, aching memories
Of burning days and flower-scented nights,
A mighty longing. Confident she waits
For who has known her never can forget.





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