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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET: 2, 11 by FREDERICK GODDARD TUCKERMAN

First Line: STILL PRESSING THROUGH THESE WEEPING SOLITUDES
Last Line: NOT TO BE LEFT, BUT WITH THE WASTE WOODLAND.

Still pressing through these weeping solitudes,
Perchance I snatch a beam of comfort bright
And pause to fix the gleam or lose it quite
That darkens as I move or but intrudes
To baffle and forelay: as sometimes here,
When late at night the waried engineer
Driving his engine up through Whately woods
Sees on the track a glimmering lantern light
And checks his crashing speed, with hasty hand
Reversing and retarding;--but again,
Look where it burns, a furlong on before!
The witchlight of the reedy rivershore,
The pilot of the forest and the fen,
Not to be left, but with the waste woodland.



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