Classic and Contemporary Poetry
GOATS, by CHARLES ERSKINE SCOTT WOOD Poet's Biography First Line: What I liked best in sicily Last Line: They seek the mountain and the tumbling flood. Subject(s): Goats; Sicily | ||||||||
What I liked best in Sicily Was not cloud-making AEtna, nor the fanes Of old Greek gods, silent in majesty Of death, but the early fresh-milk trains That come while borage leaves hold dew And the starry flowers of lapis blue Are wet with Night; herds of whimsical Black, brown, and spotted grave she-goats, With stare indifferent and quizzical; Furry tassels dangling at their throats. Nonchalantly sauntering to town, They bite the wayside weed With dainty, lip-selecting greed, Skipping lightly to a wall, Or even a house top, looking down To mock with wag of beard the herder's call. Through the narrow streets they pass from door to door And full of sympathy for motherhood Fill frothing bowls for babies of the poor, From bulging udders, soft and round and good. By the dripping fountain of the public square Women wait for them, chatting the while They squirt white jets through bottle-necks; a stair Of stone one climbs to feed the sick; looking back to smile A sly satiric grin of goaty guile. Then all lie down to rest in a shadow place Against a wall, chewing their sidewise cud Till presently, with pretty mincing pace They seek the mountain and the tumbling flood. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MAMILLIA: VERSES AGAINST THE GENTLEWOMEN OF SICILIA by ROBERT GREENE ANTIQUE COIN by JOSE-MARIA DE HEREDIA (1842-1905) ODE TO SICILY by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR TRAGEDIES: 8 by THEOPHILE JULIUS HENRY MARZIALS SONNET: ISLES OF SCILLY by ARTHUR THOMAS QUILLER-COUCH SICILIAN ARETHUSA by HORACE SMITH SICILY, DECEMBER, 1908 by HENRY VAN DYKE THE SICILIAN by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY CRADLING WHEAT by CHARLES ERSKINE SCOTT WOOD |
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