Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HANNAH BINDING SHOES, by LUCY LARCOM Poet's Biography First Line: Poor lone hannah / sitting at the window, binding shoes Last Line: Hannah's at the window, binding shoes. Subject(s): Beverly, Massachusetts | ||||||||
POOR lone Hannah, Sitting at the window, binding shoes. Faded, wrinkled, Sitting, stitching, in a mournful muse. Bright-eyed beauty once was she, When the bloom was on the tree: Spring and winter, Hannah's at the window, binding shoes. Not a neighbor Passing nod or answer will refuse To her whisper, "Is there from the fishers any news?" Oh, her heart's adrift, with one On an endless voyage gone! Night and morning, Hannah's at the window, binding shoes. Fair young Hannah, Ben, the sunburnt fisher, gayly wooes: Hale and clever, For a willing heart and hand he sues. May-day skies are all aglow, And the waves are laughing so! For her wedding Hannah leaves her window and her shoes. May is passing: Mid the apple boughs a pigeon cooes. Hannah shudders, For the mild southwester mischief brews. Round the rocks of Marblehead, Outward bound, a schooner sped: Silent, lonesome, Hannah's at the window, binding shoes. 'T is November, Now no tear her wasted cheek bedews. From Newfoundland Not a sail returning will she lose, Whispering hoarsely, "Fishermen, Have you, have you heard of Ben?" Old with watching, Hannah's at the window, binding shoes. Twenty winters Bleach and tear the ragged shore she views. Twenty seasons: -- Never one has brought her any news. Still her dim eyes silently Chase the white sails o'er the sea: Hopeless, faithful, Hannah's at the window, binding shoes. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LIGHTHOUSES; BAKER'S ISLAND by LUCY LARCOM HYMN WRITTEN FOR THE TWO HUNDRETH ANNIVERSARY by LUCY LARCOM A STRIP OF BLUE by LUCY LARCOM THE BROWN THRUSH by LUCY LARCOM THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL, 1861 by LUCY LARCOM A HEART'S PRAYER by LUCY LARCOM |
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