Allen Tate Quote

The shut gate and the decomposing wall:
The gentle serpent, green in the mulberry bush,
Riots with his tongue through the hush—
Sentinel of the grave who counts us all!


'Ode to the Confederate Dead' (1928)


The shut gate and the decomposing wall: The gentle serpent, green in the mulberry bush, Riots with his tongue through the hush— Sentinel of the...

The shut gate and the decomposing wall: The gentle serpent, green in the mulberry bush, Riots with his tongue through the hush— Sentinel of the...

The shut gate and the decomposing wall: The gentle serpent, green in the mulberry bush, Riots with his tongue through the hush— Sentinel of the...

The shut gate and the decomposing wall: The gentle serpent, green in the mulberry bush, Riots with his tongue through the hush— Sentinel of the...