CUMULATIVES

STORMS have beaten on this point of land
And ships gone to wreck here
          and the passers-by remember it
          with talk on the deck at night
          as they near it.

Fists have beaten on the face of this old prize-fighter
And his battles have held the sporting pages
          and on the street they indicate him with their
          right fore-finger as one who once wore
          a championship belt.

A hundred stories have been published and a thousand rumored
About why this tall dark man has divorced two beautiful
     young women
And married a third who resembles the first two
               and they shake their heads and say, "There he
          goes,"
     when he passes by in sunny weather or in rain
     along the city streets.