Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BACK TO THE FARM, by WALT MASON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BACK TO THE FARM, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I'll buy a little farm somewhere,' the old
Last Line: They turn their eyes to the old home farm.
Subject(s): Farm Life; Old Age; Retirement; Weariness; Agriculture; Farmers; Fatigue


"I'LL buy a little farm somewhere," the old man says, "and tinker there, until
it's time to go to sleep, down where the bending willows weep. I know a farm I'd

like to buy; it's where I lived when three feet high. It's where my father used

to strive to keep the family alive. 'Twas there, in bygone, golden days, I hoed

the beans and husked the maize, and dreamed of triumphs I'd achieve, when I that

dreary farm could leave. To dwell in cities was my aim, to cut a swath and
conquer fame, and that old sandy, rocky farm for me was quite devoid of charm.
The dreams I dreamed have all come true, I've done the things I meant to do, but

I am old and worn and tired, and for a long time I've desired, above all other
things, to go back to the scenes I used to know." Thousands of old men talk that

way; when they are bent by the years, and gray, feeble of step and weak of arm,

they turn their eyes to the old home farm.





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