D. H. LAWRENCE

MAN AND BAT

•f IT 7 HEN I went into my room, at mid-morning,

^ Say ten o'clock......

My room, a crash-box over that great stone rattle
The Via de' Bardi.........

When I went into my room at mid-morning, 5

Why?.........a bird!

A bird

Flying round the room in insane circles.

In insane circles!

.........A bat! 10

A disgusting bat

At mid-morning!.........

Out! Go out!
Round and round and round
With a twitchy, nervous, intolerable flight, je
And a neurasthenic lunge,
And an impure, frenzy;
A bat, big as a swallow.
Out, out of my room !
The Venetian shutters I push wide ao
To the free, calm upper air;
Loop back the curtains............
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