Portrait of a ManAuthor(s): Robert J. RoeSource: Poetry, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Nov., 1922), p. 87Published by: Poetry FoundationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20573830 .

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Robert '. Roe

PORTRAIT OF A MAN

"I did it, yes," he said; And looked at me When I asked him If the things they said of him were true His neighbors gabbling amongst themselves.

He looked at me: His eyes were clear as water, And there shone A mystical elation on his face: "I did it, yes," Was all he said.

APPRENTICE

You bid me sing The deep harmonies of stars. But how can I sing of stars When I cannot chant for you How mountains at sunset Are like far-off purple isles In a varnished saffron sea?

Or how shall I prophesy concerning planets Who am unable To explain how the bony-backed mesa, With bare flanks blown in and out with shadows, Is like a lean horse sniffing spring?

L871

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