Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OTHER VOICES, by JOHN FREEMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OTHER VOICES, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Groaned the mill-wheel below
Last Line: Voices of mock and unease.
Subject(s): Autumn; Seasons; Voices; Fall


GROANED the mill-wheel below,
Labour, labour is sore,
Sore evermore.
White foam smiled answer and spread
Ever—never—for ever—and fled.
The alder's thin leaves, olive and sere,
Rustled, Autumn is near,
With cold fingering winds and hoar-sprinkled locks
Strewing my leaves on foam-washed rocks.
The white clouds made answer and shed
Shadows that hare-like fled,
And the lapwing flying
Another shadow shook down, crying
Never, never, O never.

Where was your voice in these
Voices of mock and unease?
Cried you that Autumn was near,
Already her cold shadow here?
Never the lapwing's your note,
Desolate, sad throat!
Was it yours, the fleet shadow's mock,
And foam on leaf-strewn rock?
Yours was in none of these
Voices of mock and unease.





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