Smell Lyrics
Oh strong-ridged and deeply hollowed
Nose of mine! what will you not be smelling?
What tactless asses we are, you and I, boney nose
Always indiscriminate, always unashamed
And now it is the souring flowers of the bedraggled
Poplars: a festering pulp on the wet earth
Beneath them. With what deep thirst
We quicken our desires
To that rank odor of a passing springtime!
Can you not be decent? Can you not reserve your ardors
For something less unlovely? What girl will care
For us, do you think, if we continue in these ways?
Must you taste everything? Must you know everything?
Must you have a part in everything?
Nose of mine! what will you not be smelling?
What tactless asses we are, you and I, boney nose
Always indiscriminate, always unashamed
And now it is the souring flowers of the bedraggled
Poplars: a festering pulp on the wet earth
Beneath them. With what deep thirst
We quicken our desires
To that rank odor of a passing springtime!
Can you not be decent? Can you not reserve your ardors
For something less unlovely? What girl will care
For us, do you think, if we continue in these ways?
Must you taste everything? Must you know everything?
Must you have a part in everything?
About
Genius Annotation
Here, William Carlos Williams is sort of admitting his indiscretions, using a clever analogy of his nose, and drawing on the Whitmanian tradition of sensing and being a part of everything.
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