Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BOY ON THE PRAIRIE, by EDWIN FORD PIPER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BOY ON THE PRAIRIE, by                    
First Line: At thirteen he first saw a railway train
Last Line: With grant and lincoln as his greatest men.
Subject(s): Children; Middle West; Prairies; Childhood; Midwest; Old Northwest; Central States; North Central States; Plains


At thirteen he first saw a railway train
With all the amazing violence of the wheels,
And the coughing engine, and the rebuking bell,
A theme for round-eyed wonder. He could ride
A bucking pony, cut strange toys in wood,
Braid hair or leather into lasso knot,
Dive, swim, throw stones, -- lacked mates for bat and ball, --
But with a rifle could behead a quail,
Such lore men taught him.

And he whiled long hours
Of lonely sunshine with his horse and dog;
Their hearty love dilating soft, bright eyes,
Pricking the glossy ears, -- their comradeship
In quiverings, poisings of graceful bodies,
Plain, age-old words of the beasts.

He learned to read
The look and life of all that roamed the wild;
Where the first elm seeds showered on April grass,
Why creatures slipped through thicket, or stirless, hid;
Where coyotes denned, how plover nest on the ground,
Two pear-shaped eggs the color of grass in dust,
Open to sight, so hard to see.

And he knew
The frowns and benedictions of the sky;
Whether piled thunderheads bridged all the blue,
Or horsetails wavered in the path of wind,
Or solid gray led up the long, long rain.
He saw the earth arrayed in all its hours;
The level sun laugh in the morning dew
A-shimmer on each grass-blade while bare feet
Were happy in that coolness; he saw the snow
One dazzle under winter sunlight shoot
A flickering rainbow in rebellious eyes.

Sometimes he read the weekly newspaper;
And winter evenings helped him into books.
On him the Ancient Mariner cast a spell;
The Lady of the Lake answered his horn;
He struck the proudest blow in Chevy Chase,
Linking the while Kit Carson, Daniel Boone,
With Grant and Lincoln as his greatest men.





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