Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IN A WHEAT FIELD, by CHARLES DAVIS PLATT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IN A WHEAT FIELD, by                    
First Line: A corn of wheat abides alone
Last Line: We reap the fields where heroes lie.
Subject(s): Fields; Wheat; Pastures; Meadows; Leas


A corn of wheat abides alone
Except it fall to earth and die;
There if it for a season lie
Concealed from view, perchance unknown,

Should heaven vouchsafe its gracious smile
And shed its dews upon that grave,
A golden harvest soon shall wave
And reapers garner it erewhile.

In its dark tomb the buried grain
Has linked its life with Nature's might,
Has triumphed o'er the powers of night
And turned our seeming loss to gain.

We talk of wheat -- we lift our eyes
And see the field where late it stood;
A rising slope to yonder wood
From the green copse that lower lies.

And in the midst a locust grove
With tall, slim trunks that seek the sky;
Their shade invites the passer-by
To stay the steps that hither rove.

The locusts bow their leafy heads
And murmur to the wandering breeze,
And 'neath the shadow of the trees
Sleep warriors in their peaceful beds.

No world-famed victory marked this place,
No man can name the silent dead,
Yet men draw near with reverent tread
And talk with spirits, face to face.

'Twas on this field they camped of old,
Beside yon stream, and battled long
With hunger, sickness, want -- a throng
Of foes grown fierce in winter's cold.

Scarce sheltered from the biting frost
Beneath rude huts, they fed the fires
Of Freedom with their funeral pyres
To save the spark that else were lost.

They yielded not to mortal foe
Nor fled dishonored from the field,
But Death's stern summons bade them yield
And lay their heads beneath the snow.

A corn of wheat, except it die,
Abides alone; but lost in earth,
Reveals at last its hidden worth --
We reap the fields where heroes lie.





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