Little Elegy

(for a child who skipped rope)

Here lies resting, out of breath,

Out of turns, Elizabeth

Whose quicksilver toes not quite

Cleared the whirring edge of night.

Earth whose circles round us skim

Till they catch the lightest limb,

Shelter now Elizabeth

And for her sake trip up Death.

X.J. Kennedy

From Cross Ties: Selected Poems
(University of Georgia Press, 1985),
copyright (c) 1985 by X. J. Kennedy.
For permission to reprint, transmit by
internet, or for any other purpose,
address Curtis Brown Ltd., Ten Astor
Place, New York, NY 10003.

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