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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IN A FAR COUNTRY by EDWARD ROWLAND SILL

First Line: ONCE, IN A DREAM, IN A BLEAK, SEA-BLOWN LAND
Last Line: AND IT WAS HOME, HOME, HOME, FOR THIS ONE HOUR.

ONCE, in a dream, in a bleak, sea-blown land,
A man wreck-stranded many a month before
Saw for a moment -- not the broken oar,
Nor sand-sunk keel; nor wild men that would stand
With uncouth gibberish on either hand
If he walked forth, or peered about the door
Where stretched he lay on his rude hut's beach-floor;
Nor heard the dull waves fretting at the sand:

But heard once more, this blessed dream within,
The mother-tongue heard not these many years,
And old familiar motions had their power;
Saw, for once more, the faces of his kin,
And took their hands, half-laughing, half in tears,
And it was home, home, home, for this one hour.



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