Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HAUNTED BRIDGE, by WILLIAM CANTON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE HAUNTED BRIDGE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: With high-pitched arch, low parapet
Last Line: With heads against the clear brown stream.
Subject(s): Bridges


With high-pitched arch, low parapet,
And narrow thoroughfare, it stands
As strong as when the mortar set
Beneath the Roman mason's hands.

An ancient ivy grips its walls,
Tall grasses tuft its coping-stones;
Beneath, through citron shadow, falls
The stream in drowsy undertones.

No road leads hence. The stonechat flits
Along green fallow grey with stone;
But here a dark-eyed urchin sits,
To whom the Painted Men were known.

Hush! do not move, but only look.
When sunny days are long and fine
This Roman truant baits a hook,
Drops o'er the keystone here a line,

And, dangling sandalled feet, looks down
To see the swift trout dart and gleam --
Or scarcely see them, hanging brown
With heads against the clear brown stream.





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