Weldon Kees

Here you will find the Poem The Smiles Of The Bathers of poet Weldon Kees

The Smiles Of The Bathers

The smiles of the bathers fade as they leave the water,
And the lover feels sadness fall as it ends, as he leaves his love.
The scholar, closing his book as the midnight clock strikes, is hollow
 and old:
The pilot's relief on landing is no release.
These perfect and private things, walling us in, have imperfect and
 public endings--
Water and wind and flight, remembered words and the act of love
Are but interruptions. And the world, like a beast, impatient and
 quick,
Waits only for those who are dead. No death for you. You are
 involved.