Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A WEST-BOUND DINER LEAVES THE SLUMS, by CATHERINE LE MASTER ECKRICH



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A WEST-BOUND DINER LEAVES THE SLUMS, by                    
First Line: The houses, horrid, leaning, beaten places
Last Line: How long the bud must swell, and where the hazel grows.
Subject(s): Slums; Tenements


The houses, horrid, leaning, beaten places,
Stretch row on row, and glisten in the rain,
The asphalt is spattered thick with mud and stain
That yesterday was dust. The empty staring faces,
City-worn, and wise, and heavy with the traces
Of things that cramping does, send looks of hate, pain,
And devil-may-care, and view the slowly moving train,
And us inside, with asters in the vases
On the white-clothed tables. And now a rim
Of sky breaks through: we pass a field where goes
A farm lad. He waves, and I wave back to him,
And suddenly am glad that I am one of those
Used to knowing when the sap is in the limb,
How long the bud must swell, and where the hazel grows.





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