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Winter Milk

by Carl Sandburg, 1920

The milk drops on your chin, Helga,
 Must not interfere with the cranberry red of your cheeks
 Nor the sky winter blue of your eyes.
 Let your mammy keep hands off the chin.
 This is a high holy spatter of white on the reds and blues.

 Before the bottle was taken away,
 Before you so proudly began today
 Drinking your milk from the rim of a cup
 They did not splash this high holy white on your chin.

 There are dreams in your eyes, Helga.
 Tall reaches of wind sweep the clear blue.
 The winter is young yet, so young.
 Only a little cupful of winter has touched your lips.
 Drink on... milk with your lips... dreams with your eyes.

Published in Smoke and Steel
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