Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WHERE THE KETTLE SINGS, by DOUGLAS MALLOCH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WHERE THE KETTLE SINGS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I like to walk the quiet streets
Last Line: That peace is where the kettle sings.
Subject(s): Home


I like to walk the quiet streets
Of towns I do not know,
Not where the whirl of traffic meets
But where the tide is slow --
The quiet streets I like to roam,
The little neighborhoods of home.

A candle in a cottage burns;
I pause awhile and dream;
Tonight some laborer returns,
Rewarded by its beam
For all the heavy day of toil,
The heat of sun, the grime of soil.

A rose-bush by the window, she
A rose beside the door,
Whose petalled lips are good to see,
A baby on the floor --
Oh, better this, the humble cot,
Than palaces where love is not.

L'ENVOI

The theme is old -- the cot, the wife --
But we shall learn at last
That this is all there is of life
Worth while when youth is past,
Whatever wealth ambition brings,
That peace is where the kettle sings.





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