Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, COLIN FORTUNATUS, by MAXWELL STRUTHERS BURT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

COLIN FORTUNATUS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Colin once a shepherd boy
Last Line: Once more in the grass with goat-heeled pan,
Alternate Author Name(s): Burt, Struthers
Subject(s): Nature; Shepherds & Shepherdesses


COLIN once a shepherd boy,
Lithe and sweet and hobbledehoy,
Crowned with leaves that a chance hand chooses
From a bank of dew-wet roses;
Early, early morning singing,
Up the fields like a bright bird winging;
And over the hills in the wake of dawn,
The cool shrill notes of a piping faun.

O, to lie in the grass with Pan —
Large, goat-heeled, delightful man!
Hear, like wind in a forest walking,
The silver murmur of his talking.
All at once the flowers are brighter,
All at once the blue is lighter,

All at once you find that over
Your head, the bees talk in the clover —
Till, a sudden shower of rain,
His laughter dies down the golden grain.

Gone! In market-place and forum,
Where the elders meet in quorum,
You're a great man, Colin, now,
Portly shank and bent of brow.
Argosies from Lydian waters
Bring rich spoil to deck your daughters,
And your good wife takes a pride
In her mantle Tyrian dyed.

Gold, for all the gold of sunrise!
Tyrian dress for purple dawn skies!
And for faun pipes sweet and bitter,
Laggard feast and servile titter;
What would you give to be a man?
Once more in the grass with goat-heeled Pan,





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