Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ALIEN IN AMERICA by FRANCIS GARDNER CLOUGH

First Line: I HAVE NO EAR TO HEAR YOUR ALIEN WORD
Last Line: AND FAITH! -- THE HEART'S LAST-LABORED CODICIL.
Subject(s): ALIENS; IMMIGRANTS; UNITED STATES; EXTRATERRESTRIALS; EMIGRANT; EMIGRATION; IMMIGRATION; AMERICA;

I have no ear to hear your alien word:
When now I wander over my own land,
Breathe prairie wind, touch soil or sea-shore sand,
And hear birds sing, -- your talk seems twice absurd;
There is no problem, as you have inferred;
Your social logic merely alienates
My lonely love for the United States,
Until I am with verbal protest stirred:
What matters if my brothers have held back
My dole of silver? Better now I know
The world for lovely things will never lack, --
Nature is not spent, -- beauty lives here still;
My word is not of progress, -- but of lo!
And faith! -- the heart's last-labored codicil.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net