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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


HILL-BORN by ABBIE HUSTON EVANS

First Line: BACK TO THIS MOULD, THIS MATRIX WHENCE I CAME
Last Line: PACKED IN THE STAR-LIKE CREVICE OF A ROCK.
Subject(s): WORLD WAR I; FIRST WORLD WAR;

Back to this mould, this matrix whence I came,
I come again. -- Like solder where it spills,
My being hardened in among these hills
When God took off my metal from the flame
And poured me out like silver: presently,
My outline fixed forever, I was I,
Stamped by this rocky corner like a die,
Shaped by these five hills and this edge of sea.

Oh, strange how hills and man's heart interlock
Inveterately -- how rock can bestow
Its contour on his spirit quick within!
Yet so it is: hill-men have always been
Like nuggets fashioned by their chinks, or snow
Packed in the star-like crevice of a rock.



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