Sonnet, By e.e. cummings

For that I have forgot the world these days,

To enter at the smokeless lodge, and take

Life naked at primeval hands, to make

Clean comrades of large things in mighty ways;

That I have wrestled with the huge dismays

Which make the high head bow,

the strong heart quake,

That I have battled for a golden stake,

Richer by every terror and amaze,--

For that I have forgot the world her cries

In the vast painted silences, that men

Have meant me nothing, under the great skies,

Over the high hills of God’s caress,--

Ye pitying elements!--be with me when

I kiss the little feet of foolishness.

From “e.e. cummings Complete Poems, 1904--1962” edited by George James Firmage (Liveright: $50.; 1079 pp.) . This is one of 36 poems that have not previously been available in any American collection of the poet’s work. 1991 by the Trustees for the e.e. cummings Trust. Reprinted by permission.