Classic and Contemporary Poetry
IN JULY (SOUTH OF ROME), by WILLIAM SHARP Poet's Biography First Line: Pale-rose the dust lying thick upon the road Last Line: Faint through the golden glimmer of the heat. Alternate Author Name(s): Macleod, Fiona Subject(s): July; Rome, Italy; Shepherds & Shepherdesses; Wind | ||||||||
Pale-rose the dust lying thick upon the road: Grey-green the thirsty grasses by the way. The long flat silvery sheen of the vast champaign Shimmers beneath the blazing tide of noon. The blood-red poppies flame Like furnace-breaths: Like wan vague dreams the misty lavender Drifts greyly through the quivering maze, or seems Thus through the visionary glow to drift. On the far slope, beyond the ruin'd arch, A grey-white cloudlet rests, The cluster'd sheep alow: close, moveless all, And silent, save when faintly from their midst A slumberous tinkle comes, Cometh, and goeth. Low-stretch'd in the blue shade, Beneath the ruin The shepherd sleeps. Nought stirs. The wind moves not, nor with the faintest breath Toucheth the half-fallen blooms of the asphodels. Here only, where the pale pink ash Of the long road doth slowly flush to rose, A bronze-wing'd beetle moveth low, And sends one tiny puff of smoke-like dust Faint through the golden glimmer of the heat. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN THE WIND by LOUISE MOREY BOWMAN LEAF LITTER ON ROCK FACE by HEATHER MCHUGH RESIDENTIAL AREA by JOSEPHINE MILES THE DAY THE WINDS by JOSEPHINE MILES VARIATIONS: 12 by CONRAD AIKEN |
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