Contents | March 2001

In This Issue (Contributors)

Also by Stephen Sandy:
The Change (1997)
My Place (1996)
Earth Day Story (1991)
The Atlantic Monthly | March 2001
 
Worn Tool

by Stephen Sandy
 
 .....
 
audioear pictureHear Stephen Sandy read this poem (in RealAudio)


 How odd to hold this implement
                         of a lapsed time

whose dated use clings still in the
                         blunt blade and the

gleaming grip—Celtic chimera
                         brave lion head

softened by hands. Soon even you
                         will be forgotten,

my letter opener, bronze or brass!
                         No one will know

why such a dull stub of a blade
                         found such a fanciful

handle, as if the one who gripped it
                         fought with ghosts.
Copyright © 2001 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved. The Atlantic Monthly; March 2001; Worn Tool - 01.03; Volume 287, No. 3; page 58.