It's Still Life

A Cento Poem with Lines Interwoven from Song of Myself (1892 version) BY WALT WHITMAN and Baudelaire BY DELMORE SCHWARTZ

Eddies of Wind

When I fall asleep, and even during sleep,
The sound of the belch’d words of my
voice I hear, quite distinctly, voices
speaking of the beginning or the end.
Whole phrases. From childhood.
Houses and rooms full of perfumes,
and for the first time in my long life,
I am almost happy.Almost.
And when night comes to eddies of wind,
I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it –
the same resolution, the same weakness.
I sniff of hay in the barn, and a few light kisses,
and I shall write a history of my heart.

©️ Misky 2020 4b and Miz Quickly a cento poem using lines from two other poems. Italicised lines are from Song of Myself, and normal are from Baudelaire. The image belongs to Cecilia at The Kitchen’s Garden