Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PRAIRIE PICTURES, by T. W. STILLWELL


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PRAIRIE PICTURES, by                    
First Line: I cannot sing of mountain peaks capped by eternal snow
Last Line: Before the sable angel rings the curtain of the day.
Subject(s): Farm Life; Peace; Pictures; Agriculture; Farmers


I cannot sing of mountain peaks capped by eternal snow,
No song of raging torrents or of canyons deep I know;
To other bards I gladly leave the gleaming waterfall,
The roaring beach, the sylvan glades, the forest hoar and tall;
For, other scenes than these, I find, are closer to my heart—
The pictures of the prairie land wherein I have a part.

Here, through the sunny summer day where verdant wheatfields nod,
The roses by the roadside waft their incense unto God;
Here miles of corn leaf sabres bristle up to guard the land,
Here, in the lily dotted pools, the white faced cattle stand;
To where the rolling landscape reaches to the distant sky
A thousand shades and tints of green refresh the weary eye.

The cozy farm homes cuddle in the arms of shady groves,
Where ducks, and geese, and chickens roam about in fussy droves;
A distant smoke line traces where a freight train passes by,
A lazy hawk sails idly through an upper reach of sky;
A lark, that on a fence post, yodels out a song of glee
Is answered by a robin from his greenleafed canopy.

The breezes whisper secrets as they loiter on their way,
The colors of the grainfields change their tints throughout the day;
And when, at last, the sunset streaks with gold the purpled west,
Each line within the picture speaks of peace, and home, and rest:
Then twilight dims the canvas with a halo, soft and gray,
Before the sable angel rings the curtain of the day.





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