His dog's sharp, sudden bark upon the stillness Will send me to the door with flying feet, In that unguarded moment quite forgetting -- So wonted was this habit, and so sweet -- The empty vista through the swaying lilacs, And out beyond, the quiet village street. Returning slowly to some threadbare duty, Grown duller since the need for it has fled, I ask how many journeys will betray me Before I shall have learned the pause instead, And make my foolish, dreaming heart remember That he is dead -- that he is dead! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JOHNNY SPAIN'S WHITE HEIFER by HAYDEN CARRUTH LA NOCHE TRISTE by ROBERT FROST WHAT THING A BIRD WOULD LOVE by ROBERT FROST THE ORANGE PICKER by DAVID IGNATOW WHEN I AM DEAD by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO NANNETTE FALK-AUERBACH by SIDNEY LANIER AND SO, I THINK DIOGENES by AMY LOWELL STUDY FOR A GEOGRAPHICAL TRAIL; 3. WASHINGTON, D.C. by CLARENCE MAJOR |