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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SIMPLE LIFE, by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When the starlings dot the lawn Last Line: Bustled, by the train, to town.) Alternate Author Name(s): Dobson, Austin | |||
'And 'a babbled of green fields.' -- SHAKESPEARE-CUM-THEOBALD. WHEN the starlings dot the lawn, Cheerily we rise at dawn; Cheerily, with blameless cup, Greet the wise world waking up; -- Ah, they little know of this, -- They of Megalopolis! Comes the long, still morning when Work we ply with book and pen; Then, -- the pure air in our lungs, -- Then 'persuasion tips our tongues'; Then we write as would, I wis, Men in Megalopolis! Next (and not a stroke too soon!) PHYLLIS spreads the meal of noon, Simple, frugal, choicely clean, Gastronomically mean; -- Appetite our entree is, Far from Megalopolis! Salad in our garden grown, Endive, beetroot, -- all our own; Bread, -- we saw it made and how; Milk and cream, -- we know the cow; Nothing here of 'Force' or 'Vis' As at Megalopolis! After, surely, there should be, Somewhere, seats beneath a tree, Where we -- 'twixt the curling rings -- Dream of transitory things; Chiefly of what people miss Drowsed in Megalopolis! Then, before the sunlight wanes, Comes the lounge along the lanes; Comes the rocking shallop tied By the reedy river-side; -- Clearer waves the light keel kiss Than by Megalopolis! So we speed the golden hours In this Hermitage of ours (Hermits we are not, believe! Every Adam has his Eve, Loved with a serener bliss Than in Megalopolis): -- So -- until the shadows fall: Then Good Night say each and all Sleep secure from smoke and din, Quiet Conscience tucks us in; Ah, they nothing know of this, -- They of Megalopolis! (Thus URBANUS to his Wife Babbled of The Simple Life. Then -- his glances unawares Lighting on a List of Shares -- Gulping all his breakfast down, Bustled, by the Train, to TOWN.) | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A GAGE D'AMOUR by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON A GARDEN SONG by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON ARS VICTRIX (IMITATED FROM THEOPHILE GAUTIER) by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON BEFORE SEDAN by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON DORA VERSUS ROSE by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON GROWING GRAY by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW; IN MEMORIAM by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON IN AFTER DAYS; RONDEAU by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON THE BALLAD OF PROSE AND RHYME by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON WHEN THERE IS PEACE by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON |
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