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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO ORANGES, by NORMAN ROWLAND GALE Poet's Biography First Line: You thousand yellow worlds from spain Last Line: Along the babel length of strand! Subject(s): London; Oranges | |||
YOU thousand yellow worlds from Spain Upon a barrow piled, And bartered for the timid pence Of some desirous child, How well your smooth and shining spheres Recall the years When by that sunny inland sea I dreamed great dreams that may not be Translated to reality! Throughout the gradual day You fade away, As dreams. Hoarsely the invitation of your master goes Adown the street; With careless-cunning hand he throws To children's innocence Some value for their pence; And his proud pyramid of fruit From apex unto base descends; Each golden atom blends With all the large and general life That throbs through London strife. You ride to far suburban homes In Arabella's cosy muff— The one that Cousin Herbert gave, All newness, warmth, and fluff! The haggard merchant rushing by Thinks sweetly of his nursery Where Ralph and Jenny watch the rain Becloud the pane. If he should miss the train! The Coster, cordial, winks; God bless the babes, the merchant thinks, If I should lose the six There's one at seven, And these will make a little heaven For those two angels whom I love! Off goes his glove! Out comes a threepenny bit! And the abysses of the bag are lit By leaping rounds of yellow rain— Soft tumbling circles fresh from Spain! O Spanish captives in the Strand, That pour the south along the street, A man in pleasantness may stand And read your history awhile: Thus you have made me smile, And made me sigh, For as you go, go I. My pyramid of hours grows less, Fewer the lips that laugh, The hands that bless, And rarely comes a greeting kind To make my heart the quicker beat. I am not fruit, but rind, You golden exiles of the street, That, severed from your parent land, Convey the south Along the Babel length of Strand! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE ORANGE PICKER by DAVID IGNATOW ORANGE SUTRA by TESS GALLAGHER CITRUS FREEZE by FORREST GANDER BLENHEIM ORANGES by PHILIP EDWARD THOMAS THE FLORIDA ORANGE by W. C. BAUGH APRIL ORANGE BLOSSOMS by THOMAS CASEY DENVER STREET by WILLARD JOHNSON CIRCUMSTANCES by FREDERICK LOCKER-LAMPSON THE COUNTRY FAITH by NORMAN ROWLAND GALE |
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