ONE of those old men fearing no man, Two hundred broods his eaves have known Since they cut on a Sapperton churchyard stone -- "Thomas Yarnton of Tarlton, Yeoman." At dusk you can hear the yeomen calling The cattle still to Sapperton stalls, And still the stroke of the woodman falls As Thomas of Tarlton heard it falling. I walked these meadows in seventeen-hundred, Seed of his loins, a dream that stirred Beyond the shape of a yeoman's word, So faint that but unawares he wondered. And now, from the weeds of his tomb uncomely I travel again the tracks he made, And walks at my side the yeoman shade Of Thomas Yarnton of Tarlton dumbly. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SACRIFICE by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE PRETTY GIRL OF LOCH DAN by SAMUEL FERGUSON LET THE LIGHT ENTER (THE DYING WORDS OF GOETHE) by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER ON BOARD THE '76; WRITTEN FOR BRYANT'S SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE LOW-DOWN WHITE by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE |