Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MILLCREEK, by MATTIE-LOU BLACKWOOD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MILLCREEK, by                    
First Line: Some of its willows are young, but most of them are too old
Last Line: Once so free and so lovely, and now this feculent slave.
Subject(s): Brooks; Streams; Creeks


Some of its willows are young, but most of them are too old;
They lean out, weak and thin, but they will not loose their hold.
Rubbish is on the bank, and its waters are thick and red;
For in summer the creek is sickly, and keeps to its filthy bed.
It is fed on the factory refuse, and clogged with the old oil drums;
The swirling smoke is a pall that it wears when evening comes.
Slowly it bears its burdens; slowly it winds on down,
Lured by the powerful river, which waits at the foot of town.
In spring, when freshened with rains, more water than it can hold,
It brims with a foolish youth, and forgets that it is old.
It is up and out of its bed, feeling with long, brown arms,
Seeking the vanished forests, and the old, forgotten farms.
Often it is emboldened, when the river is at its back,
And knowing a mad, new strength, it creeps when the nights are black.
Glutted with wreckage it fumbles, back to its bed, and its grave;
Once so free and so lovely, and now this feculent slave.





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