Rosebud, knot of worms,
Heir of the first five
Shapers, I open:
Five moony crescents
For eyes to light me
Toward what I can grab,
Milk-spout, big finger
So many ladders
Giving a leg up
To these limber hooks.
Heir of the first five
Shapers, I open:
Five moony crescents
For eyes to light me
Toward what I can grab,
Milk-spout, big finger
So many ladders
Giving a leg up
To these limber hooks.
I learn, good circus
Dog that I am, how
To move, serve, steer food,
Index the arrow,
Thumbhead, blunt helper.
My master’s fetcher,
Whipper of itches,
No pocket dozer,
I shut on the key
Of this blue-green toy.
Dog that I am, how
To move, serve, steer food,
Index the arrow,
Thumbhead, blunt helper.
My master’s fetcher,
Whipper of itches,
No pocket dozer,
I shut on the key
Of this blue-green toy.
Five-antlered, branching
Touchy antenna,
I nose out the lay
Of thistle and silk,
Cold pole and hot plate.
Touchy antenna,
I nose out the lay
Of thistle and silk,
Cold pole and hot plate.
Old historian,
My page this desert
Crossed by three causeways,
Leathery, treeless,
With five whorled landspits.
My page this desert
Crossed by three causeways,
Leathery, treeless,
With five whorled landspits.
Brown-backed, white-bellied
As a flatfish, I
Swim the Sea of Do,
The left my lackey,
My backward image.
Penbearer, scrubnurse,
The captain’s batman,
By heart here I hold
Coin, button, trigger
And his love’s body.
As a flatfish, I
Swim the Sea of Do,
The left my lackey,
My backward image.
Penbearer, scrubnurse,
The captain’s batman,
By heart here I hold
Coin, button, trigger
And his love’s body.
Ill-served he’ll be when
Age manhandles me
(A crab to nap on
Chair arms and tables,
Five wickless candles
To wag at the dark)
And worse-served when death
Makes off with this rose,
Five worms in a box
To feed the thin crows.
Age manhandles me
(A crab to nap on
Chair arms and tables,
Five wickless candles
To wag at the dark)
And worse-served when death
Makes off with this rose,
Five worms in a box
To feed the thin crows.
About the Author
Sylvia Plath was a poet, novelist, and short-story writer. She is best known for her semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, and for poetry collections such as The Colossus and Other Poems and Ariel.