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THE CALL, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: The unforgotten voices call at twilight
Last Line: They will not give me peace at dawn and twilight.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hinkson, Katharine Tynan
Subject(s): Death; Grief; Ireland; Loss; Memory; Voices; Dead, The; Sorrow; Sadness; Irish


THE unforgotten voices call at twilight,
In the grey dawning, in the quiet night hours;
Voices of mountains and of waters falling,
Voices of wood-doves in the tender valleys,
Voices of flowery meadows, golden cornfields:
Yea, all the lonely bog-lands have their voices.

Voices of church-bells over the green country,
Memories of home, of youth. O unforgotten!
When all the world's asleep the voices call me,
Come home, acushla, home! Why did you leave us?
The little voices hurt my heart to weeping,
There are small fingers plucking at my heart-strings.

Let me alone, be still, I will not hear you.
Why would I come to find the old places lonely?
They are all gone, the loving, the true-hearted;
Beautiful country of the dead, I come not:
How would I meet the cold eyes of the stranger?
All the nests of my heart are cold and empty.

I will not come for all your soft compelling,
Little fingers plucking me by the heart-strings,
In the grey dawning, in the quiet nighthours,
Because the dead, the darling dead, return not
And all the nests of my heart are cold and lonely.
They will not give me peace at dawn and twilight.





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