Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TWO LIVES. PART 1: 4 by WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD

First Line: WILD TALES OF THAT WHITE HOUSE WERE WHISPERED TO ME
Last Line: "AND HAVE YOU SEEN THE OLD MAN'S DAUGHTER?"" -- ""WHO?"

Wild tales of that white house were whispered me
Across the neighbor's fence. An old dame said:
"A beautiful mother paced, with bended head
And fingers, muttering monotony,
That porch in other days, and seemed to see
Only the squirrels burying nuts and bread,
Which over the rail she tossed them fitfully, --
At last they took her off; her little three
Learned all they knew of her at father's knee, --
And when she died she did not die in bed . . .
She haunts us most when waves are white to view
Under those bluffs" -- and pointed down the sky --
"And now the old man is about to die,
And have you seen the old man's daughter?" -- "Who?"



Home: PoetryExplorer.net