Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MERRIMACK RIVER AT ITS MOUTH by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR

First Line: TO-NIGHT I SAW THE MERRIMACK
Last Line: LAPSED TO THE SEA AND THE EVENING STAR!
Subject(s): MERRIMAC (RIVER); NEW HAMPSHIRE;

TO-NIGHT I saw the Merrimack
Go broadening, gleaming out to sea;—
The tide was low; a cloudy rack
Purple and crimson and sullen black
Drifted o'er main and lea;
And shadowed now with the parting sun,
But placid and still as befitted one
Whose life would be ended when day was done—
With a breeze from the north above it blowing,
And the strength of the hills in its silent flowing,
Past the pines of Newbury town
And the Salisbury marshes wide and brown,
The cliff-born river, over the bar,
Lapsed to the sea and the evening star!



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