Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE WHIP-POOR-WILL by JOHN BANISTER TABB

First Line: FROM YONDER WOODED HILL
Last Line: THE LEGEND THOU HAST HEARD!
Subject(s): BIRDS; WHIPPORWILLS;

From yonder wooded hill
I hear the whip-poor-will,
Whose mate or wandering echo answers him
Athwart the lowlands dim.

He calls not through the day;
But when the shadows gray
Across the sunset draw their lengthening veil,
He tells his twilight tale.

What unforgotten wrong
Haunts the ill-omened song?
What scourge of fate has left its loathed mark
Upon the cringing dark?

"Whip! Whip-poor-will!"
O sobbing voice, be still!
Tell not again, O melancholy bird,
The legend thou hast heard!



Home: PoetryExplorer.net