Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE OLD CAMP COFFEE-POT (WRITTEN FOR EBEN W. MARTIN), by CHARLES BADGER CLARK JR. Poet's Biography First Line: Old camp-mate, black and rough to see Last Line: From your black throat, old coffee-pot. Alternate Author Name(s): Clark, Badger Subject(s): Camping; Cowboys; Camps; Summer Camps | ||||||||
Old camp-mate, black and rough to see, A hard-worked aid and ally you In all my single-handed wars With naked nature's savagery. Your scars are marks of service true, Dear loving-cup of out-o'-doors, And history in every spot Has battered you, old coffee-pot. Oh, black Pandora-box of dreams! Though dry of drink for mortal needs, Out of your spout what fancies flow! The flash of trout in sunny streams, The swoop of ducks among the reeds, The buck that paws the reddened snow What suns and storms, what dust and mire, What gay, tanned faces round the fire! So, vividly as clouds that blaze Above a sunset's rainy red, Scene after scene, you bring to me The camps and trails of other days. And as a shell, long dry and dead, Holds echoes of its native sea, So dear old murmurs, half forgot, Rise from your depths, old coffee-pot. I hear the stir of horses' hoofs, The solemn challenge of the owl, The wind song on the piny height, The lilt of rain on canvas roofs, The far-off coyote's hungry howl, And all the camp sounds of the night. They risea thousand things like these From you, old well of memories. Our fires are dead on hill and plain And old camp faces lost and gone, But yet we two are left, old friend. And as the summers bloom and wane May I meet you at dusk and dawn By many fires before the end, And drink to you in nectar hot From your black throat, old coffee-pot. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OH LOVELY ROCK by ROBINSON JEFFERS TO A WOMAN GLANCING UP FROM THE RIVER by LARRY LEVIS THE SUMMER-CANP BUS PULLS AWAY FROM THE CURB by SHARON OLDS COUNTRYSIDE CAMP by CLARENCE MAJOR AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN GREEN by LINDA PASTAN THE LIGHTS IN THE SKY ARE STARS: THE GREAT NEBULA OF ANDROMEDA by KENNETH REXROTH MORNING IN CAMP by HERBERT BASHFORD A BORDER AFFAIR by CHARLES BADGER CLARK JR. A BAD HALF HOUR by CHARLES BADGER CLARK JR. A COWBOY'S PRAYER (WRITTEN FOR MOTHER) by CHARLES BADGER CLARK JR. |
|