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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE HINT BEYOND by FRANCES MARY FROST

First Line: HE AND THE WILDER PART OF EARTH
Last Line: A HINT OF BLUE, A GHOST OF GOLD.
Subject(s): FARM LIFE; AGRICULTURE; FARMERS;

He and the wilder part of earth
were secret allies from his birth.

He hates to plant a sloping field
which last year had a mustard-yield.

Hawkweed and paintbrush on his land
you'd think he'd sown with his own hand.

And as for blue vetch flanking hay,
he'd stand and stare at it all day

nor lift a scythe to buttercup
that might as well be down as up.

His hired man says that he was hired
to work, and he is getting tired

of waiting while the farmer looks
at brown-eyed susans by the brooks,

of being told to mow around
a patch of colored haying-ground.

He and the wilder part of earth
were secret allies from his birth:

that may be why his eyes behold
a hint of blue, a ghost of gold.



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