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More poems by Theodore RoethkeTheodore Roethke | Print this page.Print | View and Write CommentsComments (3) | Books by Theodore RoethkeBooks by Theodore Roethke

Dolor

Theodore Roethke

I have known the inexorable sadness of pencils,
Neat in their boxes, dolor of pad and paper weight,
All the misery of manilla folders and mucilage,
Desolation in immaculate public places,
Lonely reception room, lavatory, switchboard,
The unalterable pathos of basin and pitcher,
Ritual of multigraph, paper-clip, comma,
Endless duplication of lives and objects.
And I have seen dust from the walls of institutions,
Finer than flour, alive, more dangerous than silica,
Sift, almost invisible, through long afternoons of tedium,
Dropping a fine film on nails and delicate eyebrows,
Glazing the pale hair, the duplicate grey standard faces.

Added: 9 Jun 2002 | Last Read: 7 Jun 2025 7:28 PM | Viewed: 14867 times

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URL: http://plagiarist.com/poetry/4622/ | Viewed on 7 June 2025.
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