Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GRANDSER, by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GRANDSER, by                 Poet's Biography
First Line: My grandser was a fearsome man!
Last Line: Like a brook away to sea!
Subject(s): Grandparents; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers


My Grandser was a fearsome man!
He died before I came;
But I have watched my Granny's face
That withered at his name.

And I have spied the scared gaze
And lips as white as chalk
Of slender aunts whose dreams he haunts
With his terrible sailor-talk.

Only my Mother always said
With wistful looks at me --
"His eyes were blue like the eyes of you, --
And he ran away to sea!"

Oh, the wild sea-thirst in the blood,
Her rhythm in the heart!
The mighty urge of the tide's surge,
The salty sting and smart!

Of course he fled the dull town
When the magic grew too strong.
A lad will go; (but a lassie, no!
She has to bide and long).

He sailed thrice over the round world,
To ports as strange as hell;
A thousand curious things he saw,
A thousand haps befell.

Till he docked at last in the home port,
And married a gentle maid
With a land grace and a flower face,
Whom the sea-wind blew afraid.

Oh, squalls are rough, the combers rough,
And sailors rough as the sea.
But Grandser was as soft as silk
To the daughter on his knee;

Growling her talks of serpents, whales,
And mermaids green as waves;
Of tropical girls festooned with pearls;
Of palms and coraline caves;

She did not fear the strange oaths,
Nor the blue fire of his glance,
Nor his callous hand. She could understand,
And so can I, by chance!

My Grandser was a fearsome man,
But a hero to her and me.
If I had a son I know he'd run
Like a brook away to sea!





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