Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PROPHETESS, by KATHERINE AGNES HUME


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PROPHETESS, by                    
First Line: I watched you o'er the tea-cloth's cool
Last Line: Of old, for still do life and stream seem one.
Subject(s): Absence; Shadows; Separation; Isolation


I WATCHED you o'er the tea-cloth's cool expanse,
A gracious girl of gladsome friendliness,
And dreamed not you could learn in one swift glance
The will of all the years to curse or bless.
Yet—lingeringly I drained the last pale drop.

O bright-haired seeress of the fragile cup,
Your sweet eyes searched among the broken leaves,
And reverently and low you builded up
The tale, as one who piles the golden sheaves
At sunset in a lonely harvest field.

The mystic murmur of your voice was merged
In rippled whispers of a vagrant stream,
That wandered far in shadow 'ere it surged
In sudden gleeful splendor where the gleam
Of calm blue water promised radiant rest.

You prophesied the joys of hours to come,
The petty sorrow, the repentant tears;
And underneath the words the drowsy hum
Of rambling woodland waters sieged my ears
Until my life and the far stream seemed one.

You foretold bitter doubts and shadows stark
Along the deviating drift of years,
Then—sudden luminous peace beyond the dark.
O truthful prophetess, you saw as seers
Of old, for still do life and stream seem one.





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