The Lesson
Rent from DeepDyve- The Lesson
We were sweethearts together In an apple grove; When we were not farming It was music and love.
Each tree was our own In a wondrous way; We turned the budding leaves From night into day.
The garden was our world To strip to the core And when we’d combed it all We reached out for more
Until we learned the law Under Eden’s strange sky However obscurely, Pure pleasure must die
And yield forth fruit Of craftsmanlike hue, Like a claw the root And a child the clue. [End Page 58]
James R. Stokely Jr. (1913–1977) grew up in Newport, Tennessee, the grandson of Anna Rorex Stokely, who with her sons founded the Stokely Brothers Canning Company, Newport’s biggest employer. He chose to become a poet rather than to go into the family business. As the husband of Wilma Dykeman, he co-authored several of her books, including Neither Black Nor White, which won the Sidney Hillman Award for the best book on race relations of 1957.
