Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE HOMESTEADER, by ISABEL ECCLESTONE MACKAY Poet's Biography First Line: Wind-swept and fire-swept and Last Line: "I've found a bigger meaning for the little word called ""home." Subject(s): Family Life; Homesteaders; Relatives | ||||||||
WIND-SWEPT and fire-swept and swept with bitter rain, This was the world I came to when I came across the sea Sun-drenched and panting, a pregnant, waiting plain Calling out to humankind, calling out to me! Leafy lanes and gentle skies and little fields all green, This was the world I came from when I fared across the sea The mansion and the village and the farmhouse in between, Never any room for more, never room for me! I've fought the wind and braved it; I cringe to it no more! I've fought the creeping fire back and cheered to see it die. I've shut the bitter rain outside and, safe within my door, Laughed to think I feared a thing not so strong as I! I mind the long, white road that ran between the hedgerows neat, In that little, strange old world I left behind me long ago, I mind the air so full of bells at evening, far and sweet All and all for someone elseI had leave to go! It cost a tear to leave itbut here across the sea With miles and miles of unused sky, and miles of unturned loam, And miles of room for someone else, and miles of room for me I've found a bigger meaning for the little word called "Home." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY AUNT ELLA MAE by MICHAEL S. HARPER THE GOLDEN SHOVEL by TERRANCE HAYES LIZARDS AND SNAKES by ANTHONY HECHT THE BOOK OF A THOUSAND EYES: I LOVE by LYN HEJINIAN CHILD ON THE MARSH by ANDREW HUDGINS MY MOTHER'S HANDS by ANDREW HUDGINS PLAYING DEAD by ANDREW HUDGINS THE GLASS HAMMER by ANDREW HUDGINS INSECT LIFE OF FLORIDA by LYNDA HULL A CHRISTMAS CHILD by ISABEL ECCLESTONE MACKAY |
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