"Slowly the poison the whole bloodstream fills."

Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.
It is not the effort nor the failure tires.
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

It is not your system or clear sight that mills
Down small to the consequence a life requires;
Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.

They bled an old dog dry yet the exchange rills
Of young dog blood gave but a month's desires.
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills. ...(more)


From "Missing Dates" by William Empson. Complete poem with a recording of Empson at The Poetry Archive.

Heart and its Blood Vessels, Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1510. Image from Web Gallery of Art.