{
 "id": "william-carlos-williams/january-morning",
 "title": "January Morning",
 "poet": "William Carlos Williams",
 "poet_slug": "william-carlos-williams",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Al Que Quiere! A Book of Poems",
 "book_slug": "al-que-quiere",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 42,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1917,
  "venue": "Al Que Quiere! A Book of Poems (1917)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
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  "sources": [
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   "https://archive.org/details/temperscarlos00willrich",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51997",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006060238",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35667",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007676947"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
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  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
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   {
    "text": "I have discovered that most of",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the beauties of travel are due to",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the strange hours we keep to see them:",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "the domes of the Church of",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the Paulist Fathers in Weehawken",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "against a smoky dawn⁠—the heart stirred⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "are beautiful as Saint Peters",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "approached after years of anticipation.",
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   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Though the operation was postponed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I saw the tall probationers",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in their tan uniforms",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "hurrying to breakfast!",
    "indent": 6
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "—and from basement entrys",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "neatly coiffed, middle aged gentlemen",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "with orderly moustaches and",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "well brushed coats",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "—and the sun, dipping into the avenues",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "streaking the tops of",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the irregular red houselets,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the gay shadows dropping and dropping.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "—and a young horse with a green bed-quilt",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "on his withers shaking his head:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "bared teeth and nozzle high in the air!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "—and a semicircle of dirt colored men",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "about a fire bursting from an old",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "ash can,",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "—and the worn,",
    "indent": 5
   },
   {
    "text": "blue car rails (like the sky!)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "gleaming among the cobbles!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "—and the rickety ferry-boat “Arden”!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What an object to be called “Arden”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "among the great piers,⁠—on the",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "ever new river!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Put me a Touchstone",
    "indent": 5
   },
   {
    "text": "at the wheel, white gulls, and we’ll",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "follow the ghost of the Half Moon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to the North West Passage⁠—and through!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(at Albany!) for all that!”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Exquisite brown waves⁠—long",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "circlets of silver moving over you!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "enough with crumbling ice-crusts among you!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The sky has come down to you,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "lighter than tiny bubbles, face to",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "face with you!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His spirit is",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "a white gull with delicate pink feet",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and a snowy breast for you to",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "hold to your lips delicately!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The young doctor is dancing with happiness",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in the sparkling wind, alone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "at the prow of the ferry! He notices",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the curdy barnacles and broken ice crusts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "left at the slip’s base by the low tide",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and thinks of summer and green",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "shell crusted ledges among",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the emerald eel-grass!",
    "indent": 6
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Who knows the Palisades as I do",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "knows the river breaks east from them",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "above the city⁠—but they continue south",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "—under the sky⁠—to bear a crest of",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "little peering houses that brighten",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "with dawn behind the moody",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "water-loving giants of Manhattan.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Long yellow rushes bending",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "above the white snow patches;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "purple and gold ribbon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of the distant wood:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "what an angle",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "you make with each other as",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "you lie there in contemplation.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Work hard all your young days",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and they’ll find you too, some morning",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "staring up under",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "your chiffonier at its warped",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "bass-wood bottom and your soul⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "out!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "—among the little sparrows",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "behind the shutter.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "—and the flapping flags are at",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "half mast for the dead admiral.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "All this⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "was for you, old woman.",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "I wanted to write a poem",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "that you would understand.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For what good is it to me",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "if you can’t understand it?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But you got to try hard⁠—",
    "indent": 5
   },
   {
    "text": "But⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Well, you know how",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "the young girls run giggling",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "on Park Avenue after dark",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "when they ought to be home in bed?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Well,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "that’s the way it is with me somehow.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}