Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AMY, by GEORGE EDWARD PENDRAY



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AMY, by                    
First Line: The schoolhouse squatted close against a hill
Last Line: Into the barley slop.
Subject(s): Classmates; Girls; Schools; Schoolmates; Students


The schoolhouse squatted close against a hill
And penned up twelve protesting homestead kids,
Smothering their noise; and when the day was done
Sent every one away again, across forlorn
Gray miles of prairie.

Four cousins rode a buggy,
Squalling gaily at their horse. Eight more
Had ponies all their own -- quick, agile beasts,
With close-cropped manes and shortened tails --
But one set out for home alone on foot. She knew
The silent terror ageing prairies bring
To one cut off by hills, the ache of two
Tired miles tramped quickly home before the dark.

Yet Amy gave no heed to that --
(Scarce ten, she still thought earth a lovely place)
She hurried. Late tonight -- but what excuse
There was for lateness! In one hand swung
Her clanking lunch-pail. In the other fist she clutched
A gaudy printed card, the teacher's gift
For best attendance -- it cost Amy
Twenty days of heartbreak, haste, and labor:
One must rise up before the sun to slop nine hogs,
Change dresses, eat, pack lunch, and run two weary miles
To win such cards -- and Amy always had
Long chores to do before and after school.

"I can't keep help. You got to do your part!"
Said Jake, her father. Mother nagging chimed:
"And don't expect a horse to ride -- we're homesteaders!"
(Now Amy wished her mother'd comb the hair that hung
Stringy and damp around her face, and she would care
No further bit for horses). Both complained
She brought no good grades home from school.
"You must be dumb -- you never win no honors.
Try working harder once," they said.

But Amy didn't learn well -- something seemed
To hold her back, and there was only this
Poor unsought prize that she might earn.
She'd kept it secret, planning how
They'd be surprised, and thinking how they'd pet
And flatter her when she brought home the card --
And so she stayed a little late this night,
Getting the thing.

Jake met her in the yard -- he scowled:
"You're late again, I see -----" She handed up the card
Whereon were written words her father could not read;
"For good attendance," she explained, her eyes aglow --
"The teacher gave it! I'm the only one
That wasn't late a day this month. I won it!"

"Hum," he cleared his throat, reflecting,
Looking at the card. "The hell you say!"
And then, the frown returning, "That's why you
Been skimpin' work here in the mornin's,
Runnin' off with the job half done, throwin' things around --
Just you cut it out, an' git the hogs fed now.
They're squealin' fierce, an' tearin' down the pen.
There's both the slop pails; git to work!"
And he strode off.
Then Amy
Took back the card -- her wage for twenty days;
And tore it quickly twice across, and looked away --
The fluttering pieces fell like heavy laughter
Into the barley slop.





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