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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET: 3, 12 by FREDERICK GODDARD TUCKERMAN

First Line: YOUNG SILAS LONG, A CARRIER THROUGH THESE WOODS
Last Line: RAN BACK, TEN STEPS OR MORE, AND NOTHING FOUND ...
Subject(s): LONG ISLAND (N.Y.);

"Young Silas Long, a carrier through these woods,
Drove home one night in not the best of moods,
Having just seen a drowned man flung ashore
With a strange feather cap. And once before,
When he was hauling seine in Southold Bay
About this time of year, a seaman's corse
Washed up, with such a cap and such a face,
And it had brought misfortune on the place.
Pondering he drove; when lo, across the way
He saw, too late, that there a body lay,
Felt the wheels tilt but could not stop his horse
Or not at once, then--flinging with a slap
The old cloth cover down he called a cap--
Ran back, ten steps or more, and nothing found ...



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