Verse > Anthologies > Harriet Monroe, ed. > Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, 1912–22
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Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936).  Poetry: A Magazine of Verse.  1912–22.
 
Naked
By William Carlos Williams
 
  WHAT fool would feel
His cheeks burn
Because of the snow?
Would he call it
By a name, give it        5
Breasts, features,
Bare limbs?
Would he call it
A woman?
(Surely then he would be        10
A fool.)
 
  And see her,
Warmed with the cold,
Go upon the heads
Of creatures        15
Whose faces lean
To the ground?
 
  Would he watch
The compassion of
Her eyes,        20
That look, now up
Now down,
To the turn of
The wind and
The turn of        25
The shivering minds
She touches—
Motionless—troubled?
 
  I ask you—
I ask you, my townspeople,        30
What fool is this?
 
  Would he forget
The sight of
His mother and
His wife        35
Because of her?—
Have his heart
Turned to ice
That will not soften?
 
  What!        40
Would he see a thing
Lovelier than
A high-school girl,
With the skill
Of Venus        45
To stand naked—
Naked on the air?
 
  Falling snow and
            you up there—waiting.
 
 
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