Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE REAPERS, by MATHILDE BLIND


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE REAPERS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sun-tanned men and women, toiling there together
Last Line: While the corn stands high, waiting to be cut.
Alternate Author Name(s): Lake, Claude
Subject(s): Harvest


SUN-TANNED men and women, toiling there to-gether;
Seven I count in all, in yon field of wheat,
Where the rich ripe ears in the harvest weather
Glow an orange gold though the sweltering heat.

Busy life is still, sunk in brooding leisure:
Birds have hushed their singing in the hushed tree-tops;
Not a single cloud mars the flawless azure;
Not a shadow moves o'er the moveless crops;

In the glassy shallow, that no breath is creasing,
Chestnut-coloured cows in the rushes dank
Stand like cows of bronze, save when they flick the teasing
Flies with switch of tail from each quivering flank.

Nature takes a rest -- even her bees are sleeping,
And the silent wood seems a church that's shut;
But these human creatures cease not from their reaping
While the corn stands high, waiting to be cut.






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