Classic and Contemporary Poetry
UP THE DARK VALLEY, by THOMAS MCGRATH Poet's Biography First Line: After the lean road looping the narrow river Last Line: The birds of darkness sang back every call Subject(s): Flies; Insects; Locusts; Spiders; Bugs | ||||||||
After the lean road looping the narrow river, At a break in the valley, turned northward up the coulee, Past the slow shallows where minnows, a tin flash Patterned the trellised shadow. Then, leaving behind the last trees, The spider sun laid on the hot face a tight miraculous web. Northward then. All afternoon beneath my feet the ground gave Uneven going. The colorless silence, unraveled by the flies, Stitched again by the locusts, was heard, was smelled -- Swamp-smell, dead coulee water. And the easy hills, Burnt brown, green, grass color, went on through the afternoon, Then blue-gray in the blue shadow. The path went on. Darkness hid in the draws. I was soon surrounded. Only the wind sound now. All through the evening, Homeward I walk, hearing no human sound. The birds of darkness sang back every call. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE EXHAUSTED BUG; FOR MY FATHER by ROBERT BLY PLASTIC BEATITUDE by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR BEETLE LIGHT; FOR DANIEL HILLEN by MADELINE DEFREES CLEMATIS MONTANA by MADELINE DEFREES THOMAS MERTON AND THE WINTER MARSH by NORMAN DUBIE ODE FOR THE AMERICAN DEAD IN ASIA by THOMAS MCGRATH |
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