Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MAD THING, by JOHN FREEMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MAD THING, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O sirs, I have not seen him
Last Line: O sirs, a hundred years I've wept.
Subject(s): Sleep; Time


O SIRS, I have not seen him
A hundred hundred years.
'Neath this rust rose he drooped his head
Sleeping a hundred years.
I slept: he stirred, but I slept on:
O Sirs, and when I woke he'd gone.

Even the worms could find him not:
A hundred years they sought.
Ants and bees a hundred years
Travelling found him not. ...
O Sirs, but like a bubble he
Shone in his bright helm's bravery.

As tall as trees he had a spear,
And a horse like a hill;
But when he slept he was as small
As the blue stars, and as still.
O Sirs, and will he with the stars
Come back after a hundred years?

Sleeping, I dreamed I saw him
Ride slowly from long wars,
Upon a white hill for a horse,
Crowned with the silver stars.
O then, single beneath the sky
While I slept he rode slowly by.

O Sirs, but had ye loved him
Ye had caught him as he went.
O were there kindness in these flowers
Their kindness had they lent.
None cared; all nodded, and I slept ...
O Sirs, a hundred years I've wept.





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