ROUND all its nooks and corners goes The evening talk, in this old inn; The darkening room by use well knows Each thread of life that these upspin. The triumphs of the wooer, player, Eclogues of praise for mead and beer, The fabled wealth, the generous fair Ring round the wonted changes here. In elmtrees' gloom the western ray Drowns, the sad cloud steals like a shroud Drawn over one that died to-day, And to my spirit memory-bowed The world with all its wars and wails Seems turning slow; but here are some With whom no black gazette prevails, Whom no disaster renders dumb. Against the thunderclouds of race Their cottage candles give them light, They like their clocks keep one same pace While empires shudder into night. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: MRS. PURKAPILE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS TO LIVE MERRILY AND TO TRUST TO GOOD VERSES by ROBERT HERRICK THE SILENT VOICES by ALFRED TENNYSON TO THE MISS WEBSTERS, WITH DR. AIKIN'S WISH by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD GLOOMY DECEMBER by ROBERT BURNS |