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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SONG OF THE DRAINER (ON TOWARD MOUNTAIN), by PATRICK MACGILL Poet's Biography First Line: He is the drainer- / out on the moorland bleak and grey, using his Last Line: Such is the drainer. Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Old Age; Solitude; Work; Workers; Loneliness | |||
HE is the Drainer. — Out on the moorland bleak and grey, using his spade in a primitive way, through chilly evening and searing day. Call him a fool, and well you may — He is the Drainer. The toil of the Drainer. — Only the simple work to do, to plod and delve the quagmire through, for thirty pence, his daily screw. — The labour is healthy — but not for you, Just for the Drainer. The artless Drainer. — It does n't require a lot of skill to dig with a spade or hammer a drill, but it's bad enough for a man when ill with fevery bones or a wintry chill — Even a Drainer. The home of the Drainer. — A couple of stakes shoved into the ground, a hole for a window, a roof tree crowned with rushes and straw, and all around a waste where lichens and weeds abound. Is the home of the Drainer. The rugged Drainer. — The sleepy bog breezes chant their hymn, the rushes and lilies are soft and slim, the deep dark pools the sun-beams limn — but what do these beauties matter to him — The rugged Drainer? The poor old Drainer. — Some day he'll pass away in a cramp, where the sundews gleam and the bogbines ramp, and go like a ghost from the drag and the damp — the poor old slave of the dismal swamp. The hapless Drainer. Such is the Drainer. — Voiceless slave of the solitude, rude as the draining shovel is rude — Man by the ages of wrong subdued, marred, misshapen, misunderstood — Such is the Drainer. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN ABEYANCE by DENISE LEVERTOV IN A VACANT HOUSE by PHILIP LEVINE SUNDAY ALONE IN A FIFTH FLOOR APARTMENT, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS by WILLIAM MATTHEWS SILENCE LIKE COOL SAND by PAT MORA THE HONEY BEAR by EILEEN MYLES |
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