Color (Cullen)/Two Who Crossed a Line (He Crosses)

by Countee Cullen

Two Who Crossed a Line

(He Crosses)

HE rode across like a cavalier,
Spurs clicking hard and loud;
And where he tarried dropped his tear
 On heads he left low-bowed.

But, “Even Stephen,” he cried, and struck
 His steed an urgent blow;
He swore by youth he was a buck
 With savage oats to sow.

To even up some standing scores,
 From every flower bed
He passed, he plucked by threes and fours
 Till wheels whirled in his head.

But long before the drug could tell,
 He took his anodyne;
With scornful grace, he bowed farewell
 And retraversed the line.