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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
JOHN DARROW, by DONALD (GRADY) DAVIDSON Poet Analysis First Line: John darrow felt a coolness / across the streak of sun Last Line: That never must be told. | |||
John Darrow felt a coolness Across a streak of sun. He looked into the jungle; Shadow there was none -- But a strange woman riding A tiger's velvet back, With skin like cinnamon And eyes bright black. There came a wrench of branches, A laugh across the sun. Darrow stood by dazzled, Trailing a foolish gun. When Darrow sprang to follow, People caught him back, "You must have much magic To follow on that track; "Witches have red lips That smile for smart men's bones. Shall Tuan Darrow's be Among the wasted ones?" Darrow's pate was addled, So the campong said. The Rajah wrote to Bangkok Tuan Darrow had fled. Between a dusk and moonrise Darrow last was seen, Climbing a barricade Across a dark ravine. The campong beat majuba In fearful unison. Came a tiger's roaring; The Darrow man had gone. And yet no tiger ate him. He wandered back, men say, Another dreadful Lazarus Of calm unspeaking clay. Where Darrow walks, comes silence, The hush that strikes men cold, The curse, the hope, the beauty That never must be told. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DRUMS AND BRASS by DONALD (GRADY) DAVIDSON JASPER by DONALD (GRADY) DAVIDSON SPOKEN AT A CASTLE GATE by DONALD (GRADY) DAVIDSON ECCLESIASTICUS by DONALD (GRADY) DAVIDSON FOURTH BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 18 by THOMAS CAMPION OUR GOOD PRESIDENT by PHOEBE CARY ON MY FIRST DAUGHTER by BEN JONSON DEATH AND CUPID; AN ALLEGORY by JOHN GODFREY SAXE |
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