Sour Grapes (1921)
by
William Carlos Williams
Blueflags
- I stopped the car
- to let the children down
- where the streets end
- in the sun
- at the marsh edge
- and the reeds begin
- and there are small houses
- facing the reeds
- and the blue mist in the distance
- with grapevine trellises
- with grape clusters
- small as strawberries
- on the vines
- and ditches
- running springwater
- that continue the gutters
- with willows over them.
- The reeds begin
- like water at a shore
- their pointed petals waving
- dark green and light.
- But blueflags are blossoming
- in the reeds
- which the children pluck
- chattering in the reeds
- high over their heads
- which they part
- with bare arms to appear
- with fists of flowers
- till in the air
- there comes the smell
- of calmus
- from wet, gummy stalks.
Sources:
Public domain text taken from The Poets’ Corner:
http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/wcw-sg3.html#46
CST Approved.