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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO A RAIL FENCE, by MARTHA LYMAN SHILLITO First Line: You used to stand in patterned, prim design Last Line: That marks the section-corner of your land. | |||
You used to stand in patterned, prim design Enclosing fields -- a zig-zag barricade Against an alien ploughshare, hoe or spade; With pride, you held your lands in close confine. Today come trooping vagrant stalk and vine. Soft-swaying fronds of ruffled gold invade September's calm, and brittled grasses wade The marsh where now, a remnant, you recline. Yet even in your sloven disarray, Bereft of power, encompassed by a host Of strange intruders, you can still withstand. One thing you guard until this very day: A sturdy, deeply-planted iron post That marks the section-corner of your land. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO AN OLD CHIMNEY by MARTHA LYMAN SHILLITO TRANSLUCENT FINGERS by MALCOLM COWLEY THE OLD BRIDGE AT FLORENCE; SONNET by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW INLAND by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY JOLLY NOSE by WILLIAM HARRISON AINSWORTH THE LUNCH by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH SUNSET IN THE DEVIL'S GLEN: COUNTY WICKLOW by EDMUND JOHN ARMSTRONG |
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