I WALKED and came upon a picket fence, And every picket went straight up and down, And all at even intervals were placed, All painted green, all pointed at the top, And every one inextricably nailed Unto two several cross-beams, which did go, Not as the pickets, but quite otherwise, And they two crossed, but back of all were posts. O beauteous picket fence, can I not draw Instruction from thee? Yea, for thou dost teach, That even as the pickets are made fast To that which seems all at cross purposes, So are our human lives, to the Divine, But, oh! not purposeless, for even as they Do keep stray cows from trespass, we, no doubt, Together guard some plan of Deity. Thus did I moralise. And from the beams And pickets drew a lesson to myself, -- But where the posts came in, I could not tell. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONTRA MORTEM: THE CHILD'S BEING by HAYDEN CARRUTH LEFT-HANDED POEM by JAMES GALVIN SURFACES AND MASKS; 1 by CLARENCE MAJOR SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: TENNESSEE CLAFLIN SHOPE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS A POEM FOR MAX NORDAU by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON THE UNDERGRADUATE KILLED IN BATTLE; OXFORD, 1915 by GEORGE SANTAYANA |