“I remember it so clearly —
how people, seeing me, would break off in midword.
Laughter died.”
"Soliloquy for Cassandra"
Poems New and Collected (1998), No End of Fun (1967)
Kontext: I remember it so clearly —
how people, seeing me, would break off in midword.
Laughter died.
Lovers' hands unclasped.
Children ran to their mothers.
I didn't even know their short-lived names.
And that song about a little green leaf —
no one ever finished it near me.