Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A WHISPER, by ELIZABETH MARY LITTLE First Line: When the grip of the black frost tightened Last Line: The cuckoo calling again! Alternate Author Name(s): Little, Lizzie M. | ||||||||
WHEN the grip of the black frost tightened And hurricane winds held strife, So weary was I of the winter I almost wearied of life. No sun on the level horizon, No glimmer of blue, or green, Only the winds' wild pinions Grey sky and grim earth between. Then low in my ear a whisper Rejoiced me exceedingly, So dear in its dream of beauty It dropped out of faerie. 'Sweeter than horns of elfland You'll hear down a whitethorn lane, In exquisite April weather, The cuckoo calling again.' Ah! some of us children of summer So steadfastly mourn the sun, Our eyes are fixed on the zenith Where yearly his race is run. 'What of the gold of his arrows, What of the light?' -- we say, 'What of the tarrying seconds Should bear to us back the day?' He is well on his wondrous journey, His progress of royal state, With banners and woodland music Earth moves to meet him elate: With music and woodland banners Of ever-beloved green, And the opening eyes of the snowdrops Each tremulous tress between. But now 'tis my heart that whispers Pulsing a glad refrain: 'Soon, soon, not in dreams but daylight I shall hear it close and plain.' Yes, sweeter than horns of elfland, Hard by, in a whitethorn lane, By the gold-crowned Hill of Killiney The cuckoo calling again! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...COMPANIONS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE SPELLIN' BEE by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR AND THERE WAS A GREAT CALM' by THOMAS HARDY HUGH SELWYN MAUBERLEY: 9. MR. NIXON by EZRA POUND THE COACHMAN'S YARN by EDWIN JAMES BRADY CONFESSIONS by ROBERT BROWNING THE COLLIER LADDIE by ROBERT BURNS CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE: CANTO 4 by GEORGE GORDON BYRON TO THE REV. W.J. HORT, WHILE TEACHING A YOUNG LADY ... ON HIS FLUTE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE |
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