Frieze of warm bronze that glides with catlike movements Over the gangplank poised and yet awaiting, The sinewy thudding rhythm of forty shuffling feet Falling like muffled drumbeats on the stillness. O roll the cotton down, Roll, roll the cotton down, From the further side of Jordan, O roll the cotton down! And the river waits, The river listens, Chuckling little banjo-notes that break with a flop on the stillness; And by the low dark shed that holds the heavy freights, Two lonely cypress tress stand up and point with stiffened fingers Far southward where a single chimney stands out aloof in the sky. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE DADDY STRAIN by KAREN SWENSON HIS RETURN TO LONDON by ROBERT HERRICK WHAT THE THRUSH SAID by JOHN KEATS THE MOURNER A LA MODE by JOHN GODFREY SAXE THE CASE OF EDGAR ABBOTT AND PHILIP RIDD by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS SONNET FROM JAPAN: 2. THE SHRINE OF THE PILGRIM SANDALS by ADELAIDE NICHOLS BAKER |