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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
METAPHYSIC, by JOHN COWPER POWYS Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: Dearie I! When I up and follows Last Line: And many a turnip-load! Subject(s): Dreams; Roads; Wind; Nightmares; Paths; Trails | |||
Dearie I! When I up and follows Grand-dad Cooper's cross-cut road, The road that from Hawk's Hill to Green Lane Hollows Is nought but rabbits and cuckoos and swallows And fields with turnip sowed, Dearie I! the road that over Badger's Warren and Turnstile Hill Skirts park-fence by Witham's Cover, Where old man Rob caught young Nell's lover, And leads to Dead Man's Mill, Dearie I! I do stop and hear Out of wind a terrible sound; And Almighty, he do whisper clear Like a girt wold owl long-side my ear -- "Nancy girl, this be holy ground!" Dearie I! And he says to me -- "You've been here, Nancy, long ere this!" And he lifts the veil of his mystery From the face of his abyss. And high Hawk Hill and Green Lane Hollows Grow only dreams that I have dreamed; And Grand-dad's road with its cuckoos and swallows, The road an old fox-bitch still follows, Is a fairy-place that only seemed! And Dead Man's Mill grows doubly dead, For its old-time pond of terribleness, And him it drowned, like mists are fled! And nought bides there but nothingness! Gone, gone -- all gone -- shadows and dreams! Dearie I! and 'twere Grand-dad's road Whereon a' drove Squire Withy's teams And many a turnip-load! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HE FINDS THE MANSION by JAMES MCMICHAEL BY DIFFERENT PATHS by MARVIN BELL DRIVING HOME by MADELINE DEFREES ART IS PARALLEL TO NATURE by CLARENCE MAJOR HIGHWAY 2, ILLINOIS by LISEL MUELLER |
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