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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET: THE WOOD FAR INLAND by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE

Poet Analysis

First Line: I CLOSE MINE EYES IN THIS LONE INLAND PLACE
Last Line: VOICES OF GHOSTLY BILLOWS OF THE NIGHT.

I CLOSE mine eyes in this lone inland place,
This wood, far inland, thronged with sombrous trees --
Our southland pines -- in whose dark boughs the breeze
Mourns like a spirit shorn of joy and grace;
The same wild genius whose half-veiled face
Dawns on the barren brink of wave-washed leas,
Fraught with the ancient mystery of the seas,
Whose hoary brow bears many a storm-bolt's trace;
I close mine eyes; but lo! a spiritual light
Steals round me: I behold through foam and mist
A dreary reach of wan, slow-shifting sand,
By transient glints of flickering star-beams kissed,
And hear upborne athwart the desolate strand
Voices of ghostly billows of the night.



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