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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FIVE KERNELS OF CORN [APRIL, 1622], by HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH Poet's Biography First Line: Twas the year of the famine in plymouth of old Last Line: To the thanksgiving feast bring five kernels of corn! Subject(s): Famine; Plymouth, Massachusetts; United States - Colonial Period | |||
I 'T WAS the year of the famine in Plymouth of old, The ice and the snow from the thatched roofs had rolled; Through the warm purple skies steered the geese o'er the seas, And the woodpeckers tapped in the clocks of the trees; And the boughs on the slopes to the south winds lay bare, And dreaming of summer, the buds swelled in the air. The pale Pilgrims welcomed each reddening morn; There were left but for rations Five Kernels of Corn. Five Kernels of Corn! Five Kernels of Corn! But to Bradford a feast were Five Kernels of Corn! II "Five Kernels of Corn! Five Kernels of Corn! Ye people, be glad for Five Kernels of Corn!" So Bradford cried out on bleak Burial Hill, And the thin women stood in their doors, white and still. "Lo, the harbor of Plymouth rolls bright in the Spring, The maples grow red, and the wood robins sing, The west wind is blowing, and fading the snow, And the pleasant pines sing, and the arbutuses blow. Five Kernels of Corn! Five Kernels of Corn! To each one be given Five Kernels of Corn!" III O Bradford of Austerfield haste on thy way. The west winds are blowing o'er Provincetown Bay, The white avens bloom, but the pine domes are chill, And new graves have furrowed Precisioners' Hill! "Give thanks, all ye people, the warm skies have come, The hilltops are sunny, and green grows the holm, And the trumpets of winds, and the white March is gone, And ye still have left you Five Kernels of Corn. Five Kernels of Corn! Five Kernels of Corn! Ye have for Thanksgiving Five Kernels of Corn! IV "The raven's gift eat and be humble and pray, A new light is breaking, and Truth leads your way; One taper a thousand shall kindle: rejoice That to you has been given the wilderness voice!" O Bradford of Austerfield, daring the wave, And safe through the sounding blasts leading the brave, Of deeds such as thine was the free nation born, And the festal world sings the "Five Kernels of Corn." Five Kernels of Corn! Five Kernels of Corn! The nation gives thanks for Five Kernels of Corn! To the Thanksgiving Feast bring Five Kernels of Corn! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OUR COUNTRY by JULIA WARD HOWE THE BATTLE OF LA PRAIRIE, 1691 by WILLIAM DOUW LIGHTHALL THE COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW NEW ENGLAND'S GROWTH by WILLIAM BRADFORD THE OLD THIRTEEN by CHARLES TIMOTHY BROOKS LA PUCELLE DE VERCHERES by GEORGE HERBERT CLARKE A SONG OF AMERICAN FREEDOM (THE LIBERTY SONG) by JOHN DICKINSON THE LIBERTY SONG (WITH MUSIC) by JOHN DICKINSON THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH: A DREAM OF PONCE DE LEON by HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH THE THANKSGIVING IN BOSTON HARBOR [JUNE 12, 1630] by HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH |
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