Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ELEGY, by JOSEPH AUSLANDER Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Fled is the swiftness of all the white-footed ones Last Line: And the geese honk north again and the heron's going. Subject(s): Ducks; Geese; Migration; Mallards; Drakes | ||||||||
Fled is the swiftness of all the white-footed ones Who had a great cry in them and the wrath of speed: They are no more among us: they and their sons Are dead indeed. So the river-mews twist in long loops over the river, Wheeling and shifting with the wind's and the tide's shift, And pass in a black night -- and nothing is left but a shiver To show they were swift. Whenever I hear the gull's throat throb in a fog, Watch the owl's velvet swoop, the high hawk's lonely paces, I think on the heels of him who lies like a log And his friends under turf and the rain creeping down on their faces. And my heart goes sick and the hell in my heart could break To the edge of my eyes for the mates I shall not be knowing Anywhere now though the ice booms loud in the lake And the geese honk north again and the heron's going. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DUCK-CHASING by GALWAY KINNELL PORTRAIT OF THE GREAT WHITE HUNTER FOXHUNTING IN THE ABSENCE OF BIG... by CLARENCE MAJOR ESSAY: DUCKS by ELENI SIKELIANOS THE WILD DUCK'S NEST by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH THE MALLARDS PASS UNHARMED by LAURA FRANCES ALEXANDER |
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