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Louise Bogan

One of America's finest lyric poets, Louise Bogan was born on August 11, 1897 in Livermore, Maine. Her father worked as a clerk in papermills and bottling factories and moved around to various milltowns in Maine to

Cassandra

by Louise Bogan (1897–1970)

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16

To me, one silly task is like another.

I bare the shambling tricks of lust and pride.

This flesh will never give a child its mother,—

Song, like a wing, tears through my breast, my side,

And madness chooses out my voice again,

Again. I am the chosen no hand saves:

The shrieking heaven lifted over men,

Not the dumb earth, wherein they set their graves.

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