Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CHILDHOOD, by EDWIN MUIR



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CHILDHOOD, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Long time he lay upon the sunny hill
Last Line: And from his house his mother called his name.
Subject(s): Children; Childhood


Long time he lay upon the sunny hill,
To his father's house below securely bound.
Far off the silent changing sound was still,
With the black islands lying thick around.

He knew each separate height, each vaguer nue,
Where the massed isles more distant rolled away,
But though all ran together in his view,
He knew that unseen straits between them lay.

Sometimes he wondered what new shores were there.
In thought he saw the still light on the sand,
The shallow water clear in tranquil air,
And walked through it in joy from strand to strand.

Oft o'er the sound a ship so slow would pass
That in the black hills' gloom it seemed to lie.
The evening sound was smooth as sunken glass,
And Time seemed finished e'er the ship passed by.

Grey tiny rocks slept round him where he lay,
Moveless as they; more still as evening came.
The grasses threw straight shadows far away,
And from his house his mother called his name.





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