The Blue Scarf

By Amy Lowell 1874–1925 Amy Lowell

Pale, with the blue of high zeniths, shimmered over with silver, brocaded

In smooth, running patterns, a soft stuff, with dark knotted fringes, it lies there,

Warm from a woman’s soft shoulders, and my fingers close on it, caressing.

Where is she, the woman who wore it? The scent of her lingers and drugs me.

A languor, fire-shotted, runs through me, and I crush the scarf down on my face,

And gulp in the warmth and the blueness, and my eyes swim in cool-tinted heavens.

Around me are columns of marble, and a diapered, sun-flickered pavement.

Rose-leaves blow and patter against it. Below the stone steps a lute tinkles.

A jar of green jade throws its shadow half over the floor. A big-bellied

Frog hops through the sunlight, and plops in the gold-bubbled water of a basin,

Sunk in the black and white marble. The west wind has lifted a scarf

On the seat close beside me; the blue of it is a violent outrage of colour.

She draws it more closely about her, and it ripples beneath her slight stirring.

Her kisses are sharp buds of fire; and I burn back against her, a jewel

Hard and white, a stalked, flaming flower; till I break to a handful of cinders,

And open my eyes to the scarf, shining blue in the afternoon sunshine.

How loud clocks can tick when a room is empty, and one is alone!

Amy Lowell, “The Blue Scarf” from The Complete Poetical Works of Amy Lowell. Copyright © 1955 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Copyright © renewed 1983 by Houghton Mifflin Company, Brinton P. Roberts, and G. D'Andelot, Esquire. Reprinted with the permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Source: Selected Poems of Amy Lowell (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002)

Biography

An oft-quoted remark attributed to poet Amy Lowell applies to both her determined personality and her sense of humor: "God made me a business woman," Lowell is reported to have quipped, "and I made myself a poet." During a career that spanned just over a dozen years, she wrote and published over 650 poems, yet scholars cite Lowell's tireless efforts to awaken American readers to contemporary trends in poetry as her more . . .

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