名人诗歌|April Inventory

The green catalpa tree has turned

All white； the cherry blooms once more.

In one whole year I haven't learned

A blessed thing they pay you for.

The blossoms snow down in my hair；

The trees and I will soon be bare.

The trees have more than I to spare.

The sleek^{1， expensive girls I teach，}

Younger and pinker every year，

Bloom gradually out of reach.

The pear tree lets its petals^{2 drop}

Like dandruff on a tableTOP.

The girls have grown so young by now

I have to nudge myself to stare.

This year they smile and mind me how

My teeth are falling with my hair.

In thirty years I may not get

Younger， shrewder， or out of debt.

The tenth time， just a year ago，

I made myself a little list

Of all the things I'd ought to know，

Then told my parents， analyst^3，

And everyone who's trusted me

I'd be substantial， presently.

I haven't read one book about

A book or memorized one plot.

Or found a mind I did not doubt.

I learned one date. And then forgot.

And one by one the solid scholars

Get the degrees， the jobs， the dollars.

And smile above their starchy collars.

I taught my classes Whitehead's notions；

One lovely girl， a song of Mahler's.

Lacking a source-book or promotions^4，

I showed one child the colors of

A luna moth^{5 and how to love.}

I taught myself to name my name，

To bark back， loosen love and crying；

To ease my woman so she came，

To ease an old man who was dying.

I have not learned how often I

Can win， can love， but choose to die.

I have not learned there is a lie

Love shall be blonder， slimmer， younger；

That my equivocating^{6 eye}

Loves only by my body's hunger；

That I have forces true to feel，

Or that the lovely world is real.

While scholars speak authority

And wear their ulcers^{7 on their sleeves，}

My eyes in spectacles shall see

These trees procure^{8 and spend their leaves.}

There is a value underneath⁹

The gold and silver in my teeth.

Though trees turn bare and girls turn wives，

We shall afford our cosplaytly^{10 seasons；}

There is a gentleness survives

That will outspeak and has its reasons.

There is a loveliness exists，

Preserves us， not for specialists.