Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

REUBEN by PHOEBE CARY

Poet Analysis

First Line: THAT VERY TIME I SAW, (BUT THOU COULDST NOT)
Last Line: IN HENLY MEDITATION, BULLET FREE.
Subject(s): FARM LIFE; GUNS; HENS; AGRICULTURE; FARMERS;
THAT very time I saw, (but thou couldst not),
Walking between the garden and the barn,
Reuben, all armed; a certain aim he took
At a young chicken, standing by a post,
And loosed his bullet smartly from his gun,
As he would kill a hundred thousand hens.
But I might see young Reuben's fiery shot
Lodged in the chaste board of the garden fence,
And the domesticated fowl passed on
In henly meditation, bullet free.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net