Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE PLAYMATES, by PHOEBE CARY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Two careless, happy children Last Line: And one, alas! Is me! Subject(s): Aging | ||||||||
TWO careless, happy children, Up when the east was red, And never tired and never still Till the sun had gone to bed; Helping the winds in winter To toss the snows about; Gathering the early flowers, When spring-time called them out; Playing among the windrows Where the mowers mowed the hay; Finding the place where the skylark Had hidden her nest away; Treading the cool, damp furrows Behind the shining plough; Up in the barn with the swallows, And sliding over the mow; Pleased with the same old stories, Heard a thousand times; Believing all the wonders Written in tales or rhymes; Counting the hours in summer When even a day seemed long; Counting the hours in winter Till the time of leaves and song. Thinking it took forever For little children to grow, And that seventy years of a life-time Never could come and go. Oh, I know they were happier children Than the world again may see, For one was my little playmate, And one, ah! one was me! A sad-faced man and woman, Leagues and leagues apart, Doing their work as best they may With weary hand and heart; Shrinking from winter's tempests, And summer's burning heat; Thinking that skies were brighter And flowers were once more sweet; Wondering why the skylark So early tries his wings; And if green fields are hidden Beyond the gate where he sings! Feeling that time is slipping Faster and faster away; That a day is but as a moment, And the years of life as a day; Seeing the heights and places Others have reached and won; Sighing o'er things accomplished, And things that are left undone; And yet still trusting, somehow, In his own good time to become Again as little children, In their heavenly Father's home; One crowding memories backward, In the busy, restless mart, One pondering on them ever, And keeping them in her heart; Going on by their separate pathways To the same eternity -- And one of these is my playmate, And one, alas! is me! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AFTER THE GENTLE POET KOBAYASHI ISSA by ROBERT HASS MEMORY AS A HEARING AID by TONY HOAGLAND AMOROSA AND COMPANY by CONRAD AIKEN GRAY WEATHER by ROBINSON JEFFERS FROM THE SPANISH by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON A LEGEND OF THE NORTHLAND by PHOEBE CARY |
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