Spring and All: XIX [This is the time of year]
This is the time of year
when boys fifteen and seventeen
wear two horned lilac blossoms
in their caps — or over one ear
What is it that does this ?
It is a certain sort —
drivers for grocers or taxidrivers
white and colored —
fellows that let their hair grow long
in a curve over one eye —
Horned purple
Dirty satyrs, it is
vulgarity raised to the last power
They have stolen them
broken the bushes apart
with a curse for the owner —
Lilacs —
They stand in the doorways
on the business streets with a sneer
on their faces
adorned with blossoms
Out of their sweet heads
dark kisses — rough faces
William Carlos Williams, "XIX [This is the time of year]" from Spring and All. Copyright © 1923 by William Carlos Williams. Reprinted by permission of Public Domain.
