Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PLOUGHMAN, by GORDON BOTTOMLEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PLOUGHMAN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Under the long fell's stony eaves
Last Line: The corn will spring again for me.
Subject(s): Corn; Plowing & Plowmen


UNDER the long fell's stony eaves
The ploughman, going up and down,
Ridge after ridge man's tide-mark leaves,
And turns the hard grey soil to brown.

Striding, he measures out the earth
In lines of life, to rain and sun;
And every year that comes to birth
Sees him still striding on and on.

The seasons change, and then return;
Yet still, in blind unsparing ways,
However I may shrink or yearn,
The ploughman measures out my days.

His acre brought forth roots last year;
This year it bears the gleamy grain;
Next Spring shall seedling grass appear:
Then roots and corn and grass again.

Five times the young corn's pallid green
I have seen spread and change and thrill;
Five times the reapers I have seen
Go creeping up the far-off hill:

And, as the unknowing ploughman climbs
Slowly and inveterately,
I wonder long how many times
The corn will spring again for me.





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