Nets to Catch the Wind

<h3> <SPAN name="august"></SPAN> AUGUST<br/> </h3> <p class="poem"> Why should this Negro insolently stride<br/> Down the red noonday on such noiseless feet?<br/> Piled in his barrow, tawnier than wheat,<br/> Lie heaps of smoldering daisies, somber-eyed,<br/> Their copper petals shriveled up with pride,<br/> Hot with a superfluity of heat,<br/> Like a great brazier borne along the street<br/> By captive leopards, black and burning pied.<br/></p> <p class="poem"> Are there no water-lilies, smooth as cream,<br/> With long stems dripping crystal? Are there none<br/> Like those white lilies, luminous and cool,<br/> Plucked from some hemlock-darkened northern stream<br/> By fair-haired swimmers, diving where the sun<br/> Scarce warms the surface of the deepest pool?<br/></p> <p><br/><br/><br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />