I have killed the moth flying around my night-light; wingless and dead it lies upon the floor.
(O who will kill the great Time-Moth that eats holes in my soul and that burrows in and through my secretest veils!)
My will against its will, and no more will it fly at my night-light or be hidden behind the curtains that swing in the winds.
(But O who will shatter the Change-Moth that leaves me in rags—tattered old tapestries that swing in the winds that blow out of Chaos!)
Night-Moth, Change-Moth, Time-Moth, eaters of dreams and of me!
Publication History
- The Shadow-Eater [1915/17 and 1923]
- The Sun (NY), Aug. 22, 1915, Sec. 3, p. 7
- Tag: Benjamin De Casseres
- Text Changes:
- Moth-Terror > Moth Terror
- night-light > night light [2 instances]
- Time-Moth > time moth [2 instances]
- Chaos > chaos
- Night-Moth > Night moth
- [New stanzas at “My will…” and “Night moth…”]
- The Second Book of Modern Verse, ed. Jessie B. Rittenhouse, p. 212
- Tag: Benjamin De Casseres
1923 Edition Text Changes
- [New stanza at “Night-Moth…”]
