THE NEIGHBOR - William Blake Poems

 
 

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THE NEIGHBOR

Man stomping over my bed in boots
carrying a large bronze church bell
which you occasionally drop:
gross man with iron heels
who drags coffins to and fro at four in the morning,
who hammers on scaffolding all night long,
who entertains sumo wrestlers and fat acrobats--
I pass you on the steps, we smile and nod.
Rage swells in me like gas.
Now rage too keeps me awake.

Copyright 1982 Circles on the Water: Selected Poems of Marge Piercy Alfred A. Knopf