Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SOCOBIE'S PASSING, by THEODORE GOODRIDGE ROBERTS First Line: Socobie, aged and bent with pain Last Line: "what voice cries ""farewell"" to our mother saint john?" Alternate Author Name(s): Roberts, T. G. Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Farewell; Poetry & Poets; Parting | ||||||||
SOCOBIE, aged and bent with pain, At the time of the year when the red leaves fly, Crawled from his tent door down to the river. "I will try my wrist and my skill again And sweep a paddle before I die." Time falls the wind falls the gray geese draw on. There is silence and peace on our mother Saint John. Socobie, once a king of his tribe, Once a lover, a poet, a man, Launched his sun-scarred craft to the river. "I will try my strength where the rapids jibe I will run her sheer, as a master can." At the time of the year when the pass is blue And the spent leaf falls in the empty wood, Socobie put out on the merry river; The brown blade lifted the white canoe The rapids shouted, the forests stood. Down in the village the hearths were bright, And the night-frost gleamed in the after-grass, And the farmers were homing up from the river, When out of the star-mist, slender and white A birch craft leaped and they watched it pass. Time falls the frost falls the great stars draw on. What voice cries "Farewell" to our mother Saint John? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN STUDY #2 FOR B.B.L. by JUNE JORDAN WATCHING THE NEEDLEBOATS AT SAN SABBA by JAMES JOYCE SESTINA: TRAVEL NOTES by WELDON KEES THE BLUE HERON by THEODORE GOODRIDGE ROBERTS |
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