Poem: “The impact of a dollar upon the heart” by Stephen Crane

War is Kind & Other Lines (1905)

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American Literature – American Poetry – Stephen Crane – Poems by Stephen Crane – War is Kind & Other Lines
< < < The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top
A Man Said to the Universe > > >

The impact of a dollar upon the heart

The impact of a dollar upon the heart
Smiles warm red light,
Sweeping from the hearth rosily upon the white table,
With the hanging cool velvet shadows
Moving softly upon the door.

The impact of a million dollars
Is a crash of flunkeys,
And yawning emblems of Persia
Cheeked against oak, France and a sabre,
The outcry of old beauty
Whored by pimping merchants
To submission before wine and chatter.
Silly rich peasants stamp the carpets of men,
Dead men who dreamed fragrance and light
Into their woof, their lives;
The rug of an honest bear
Under the feet of a cryptic slave
Who speaks always of baubles,
Forgetting state, multitude, work, and state,
Champing and mouthing of hats,
Making ratful squeak of hats,
Hats.

< < < The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top
A Man Said to the Universe > > >

American Literature – American Poetry – Stephen Crane – Poems by Stephen Crane – War is Kind & Other Lines

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War is Kind & Other Lines (1905)

The impact of a dollar upon the heart

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