Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE STRAIN by CHRISTINE TURNER CURTIS

First Line: THE OLD NEW ENGLAND SOUL OF ME
Last Line: CLOSE AKIN TO TEARS.
Subject(s): WELLESLEY COLLEGE;
THE Old New England soul of me
Loves all sleek and hearty things;
Wide-roofed barns and stuffed haymows,
Fat white goslings, leaf-brown cows,
Autumns and harvestings,

And the bulging orange cheeks
Of ripe pumpkins in the sun;
Seed-corn hanging by the door,
Melons on the woodshed floor,
Clapp's Favorites, one by one,

Dropping from the loaded trees,
And the copper Seckel pear, --
Loves the crowded apple bin
And the red fruit rumbling in;
Grandfather's spindle chair

Standing by the kitchen blaze,
The deep chimney and the clock
And the blackened old firedogs
Under the huge twisted logs,
New butter in a crock

And great foaming jars of milk,
Yellow loaves of citron cake,
Currant jellies, clear and red,
And the brown domes of the bread
Fresh from the morning bake.

All the fine old frugal ways
Of those gallant Pilgrim years
Have the power to wake in me
That deep sober ecstasy,
Close akin to tears.



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