Spring and All: XIX [This is the time of year]

This is the time of year
when boys fifteen and seventeen
wear two horned lilac blossoms
in their caps — or over one ear
 
What is it that does this ?
 
It is a certain sort —
drivers for grocers or taxidrivers
white and colored —
 
fellows that let their hair grow long
in a curve over one eye — 
 
Horned purple
 
Dirty satyrs, it is
vulgarity raised to the last power
 
They have stolen them
broken the bushes apart
with a curse for the owner — 
 
Lilacs — 
 
They stand in the doorways
on the business streets with a sneer
on their faces
 
adorned with blossoms
 
Out of their sweet heads
dark kisses — rough faces

Copyright Credit: William Carlos Williams, "XIX [This is the time of year]" from Spring and All. Copyright © 1923 by William Carlos Williams. Reprinted by permission of Public Domain.