On seeing Stravinsky’s ballet, Petroushka

(Note on back by Evelyn Coffey: Dr. Adler’s Prosody - Dec. 12, 1934 - Character Sketch, Free Verse)

I am Petrouchka’s ghost.

Sometimes I sound in the wind that whines

on the house-tops;

sometimes I am smoke that is lost

in fog.

I sneer at lovers making love in the shadows,

and steer dense clouds

across the moon’s white face.

I hate love –

I who loved only as a clown

can love,

a clown with his aching, saw-dust body

and hideous, masked head –

a clown who laughs at sorrow,

holding his own heart’s segments

in his hand.

I lived for love,

daring to hope

that she could love me;

blinded to my sordidness by the smile

in her eyes;

overturned with the delicate flesh

that formed her

and the spirit that made her dancing

a flame in a sunset garden.

For an instant I was phosphorous

that sent her flame racing,

but my fire burnt out

in the wealth of hers.

I should have died, even if her lover

had not found my heart

with his curved, steel blade.

I died for love

before he swept me down . . .

while the crowd laughed.

They are laughing now

at the spirit that sneers

from the house-tops . . .

laughing at the smoke

that simmers in fog . . .

laughing at the puppet I was . . .

laughing . . .

laughing.

Evelyn Coffey