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“The Good Man Has No Shape” by Wallace Stevens 🇺🇸 (2 Oct 1879 – 2 Aug 1955)
Through centuries he lived in poverty.
God only was his only elegance.
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Then generation by generation he grew
Stronger and freer, a little better off.
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He lived each life because, if it was bad,
He said a good life would be possible.
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At last the good life came, good sleep, bright fruit,
And Lazarus betrayed him to the rest,
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Who killed him, sticking feathers in his flesh
To mock him. They placed with him in his grave
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Sour wine to warn him, an empty book to read;
And over it they set a jagged sign,
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Epitaphium to his death, which read,
The Good Man Has No Shape, as if they knew.