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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SPINNING by EDITH MATILDA THOMAS

First Line: DID YOU, O DAPHNE, LONG AGO
Last Line: TILL FAILS THE LYRIC LIGHT.

DID you, O Daphne, long ago,
Stray with your nibbling sheep
On those far hills I seem to know,
Looming in dreams of sleep?

Did you a little spindle whirl
From morning until night,
Making a thread from fleecy curl
Of their shorn raiment white?

Sometimes, I think me you, Greek girl,
Drawing an endless thread!
A little spindle I, too, whirl --
But it spins song instead!

You wandered, and fine wool you spun,
Happily till the night.
My spinning, too, will not be done
Till fails the lyric light.



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