Blackbird, blackbird in the cage,
There’s something wrong to-night.
Far off the sheriff’s footfall dies,
The minutes crawl like last year’s flies
Between the bars, and like an age
The hours are long to-night.
The sky is like a heavy lid
Out here beyond the door to-night.
What’s that? A mutter down the street.
What’s that? The sound of yells and feet.
For what you didn’t do or did
You’ll pay the score to-night.
No use to reek with reddened sweat,
No use to whimper and to sweat.
They’ve got the rope; they’ve got the guns,
They’ve got the courage and the guns;
An’ that’s the reason why to-night
No use to ask them any more.
They’ll fire the answer through the door-
You’re out to die to-night.
There where the lonely cross-road lies,
There is no place to make replies;
But silence, inch by inch, is there,
And the right limb for a lynch is there;
And a lean daw waits for both your eyes,
Blackbird.
Perhaps you’ll meet again some place.
Look for the mask upon the face;
That’s the way you’ll know them there-
A white mask to hide the face.
And you can halt and show them there
The things that they are deaf to now,
And they can tell you what they meant-
To wash the blood with blood. But how
If you are innocent?
Blackbird singer, blackbird mute,
They choked the seed you might have found.
Out of a thorny field you go-
For you it may be better so-
And leave the sowers of the ground
To eat the harvest of the fruit,
Blackbird.
(Frederic Ridgely Torrence)
More Poetry from Frederic Ridgely Torrence:
Frederic Ridgely Torrence Poems based on Topics: Musicians, Place, Faces, Courage, Silence, Reasoning, Lies & Deceit, Age- Eye-Witness (Frederic Ridgely Torrence Poems)
- Evensong (Frederic Ridgely Torrence Poems)
- The Son: Southern Ohio Market Town (Frederic Ridgely Torrence Poems)
- The Apples (Frederic Ridgely Torrence Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Faces Poems, Place Poems, Silence Poems, Age Poems, Courage Poems, Lies & Deceit Poems, Reasoning Poems, Musicians PoemsBased on Keywords: daw, sowers, sheriff, lynch, cross-road