Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THANKSGIVING IN SOMERSET, by JOSEPH FULFORD FOLSOM


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THANKSGIVING IN SOMERSET, by                    
First Line: Still stand, as when our fathers tilled the soil
Last Line: Slow down! We, too, some gratitude can show.
Subject(s): Holidays; Thanksgiving


Still stand, as when our fathers tilled the soil,
The shocks of fodder on the upland's crest
Like shapely wigwams; for God's hand has blest
The children's as he blest the parent's toil.

Again the year with laughter and with song,
In overflowing barns has heaped its store
Of garnered harvest, adding more to more
Of rich abundance for the winter long.

The cattle linger by the river's bend,
Surpassing Landseer's color in the light
No brush can paint that falls before the night
Has mixed its purple in the palette's blend.

Slow down! It seems like sacrilege to speed
Across God's open country unaware
Of all its beauty, in the golden glare
Of sunset, with no thanking in our creed.

Now lamps are in the windows, and the gleam
Of swinging lanterns cheers the farmstead's close,
Ere man and beast make ready for repose
All through the night, beneath the stars' free beam.

Slow down! Perhaps the farmhouse people know
The hand of Him who prospers all their days,
And each before the family altar prays --
Slow down! We, too, some gratitude can show.





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