Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ANIMAL TRANQUILITY AND DECAY; A SKETCH, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: The little hedgerow birds
Last Line: And there is dying in an hospital. --'
Variant Title(s): Old Man Travelling
Subject(s): Animals


THE little hedgerow birds,
That peck along the roads, regard him not.
He travels on, and in his face, his step,
His gait, is one expression: every limb,
His look and bending figure, all bespeak
A man who does not move with pain, but moves
With thought. -- He is insensibly subdued
To settled quiet: he is one by whom
All effort seems forgotten; one to whom
Long patience hath such mild composure given,
That patience now doth seem a thing of which
He hath no need. He is by nature led
To peace so perfect that the young behold
With envy, what the Old Man hardly feels.
-- I asked him wither he was bound, and what
The object of his journey; he replied
'Sir! I am going miles to take
A last leave of my son, a mariner,
Who from a sea-fight has been brought to Falmouth,
And there is dying in an hospital. --'




Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net