Oh You Gatherer by By Lawrence Ferlinghetti

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Oh You Gatherer
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Oh you gatherer
......of the fine ash of poetry
...........ash of the too-white flame
................of poetry

Consider those who have burned before you
.........in the so-white fire

Crucible of Keats and Campana
...........Bruno and Sappho
.................Rimbaud and Poe and Corso
.....And Shelley burning on the beach
..................at Viarreggio

And now in the night
.....in the general conflagration
............the white light
..................still consuming us
.......small clowns
............with our little tapers
............held to the flame

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