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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


CRIMEAN INVALID SOLDIERS REAPING AT ALDERSHOT by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES

Poet Analysis

First Line: REAP YE THE RIPE RIPE CORN
Last Line: AND THE WORK OF A THOUSAND HANDS.
Subject(s): CRIMEAN WAR (1853-1856); VETERANS;

REAP ye the ripe ripe corn,
Ye have reap'd the green and the young,
The fruits that were scarcely born, --
The fibres that just were strung.

Ye have reaped, as the Destinies reap,
The wit and the worth of Man,
The tears that we vainly weep --
The deeds that we vainly plan.

Now reap as the generous life
Of the pregnant Earth commands,
Each seed with a future rife,
And the work of a thousand hands.



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