Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, RETURN, by WILMA CRITTENDEN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

RETURN, by                    
First Line: They who quit the soil with hopes swung high
Last Line: As strong hands close again on rusting plow.
Subject(s): Farm Life; Homecoming; Agriculture; Farmers


They who quit the soil with hopes swung high,
And dropped their heavy boots for city shoes,
To leave a proper footprint for the eye
Of Fortune to behold -- they could not lose --
Those strong ones who from son to son had walked
The furrowed ground and dropped their fertile seed,
And who of evenings smoked their pipes and talked
With friendly neighbor of the market's need.
They could not lose -- and yet they did. Those men
Who beat their puny fists against the Wheel
And lost the clear horizons that had been,
And felt the heavy weight of Fortune's heel.

But grim, undaunted eyes bend earthward now
As strong hands close again on rusting plow.





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