Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, EXPECTATION, by JANE BARLOW



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

EXPECTATION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Fleet wheels had whirled for us, deep hedge-rows threading
Last Line: Swooped startled, as a bell began to—toll.
Subject(s): Bells; Churches; Marriage; Cathedrals; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


FLEET wheels had whirled for us, deep hedgerows threading,
Till where, down labyrinthine lanes enfolden,
The grey, green-mantled church stood, half withholden
From passing eyes by elms full-fledged for shedding
Midsummer shade, noon-shrunken, softly spreading
O'er swarded path a dappled pavement, golden
And beryl-flecked, to a door, whose dusk-arch olden
Let glimpse in hesitant gleams, the sill's gloom dreading.
A knot of children, snowy-bibbed, blue-skirted,
Hung round the gate, from devious ways diverted;
Shawled crone's slow halt and girl's light foot one goal
Had found thereby. Grand weather for whose wedding?
Methought: and straight a daw from ivied steading
Swooped startled, as a bell began to—toll.





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