Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE RECALL, by FRANK LILLIE POLLOCK


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE RECALL, by                    
First Line: An ancient ghost came up the way
Last Line: The spirit of the old unrest.
Subject(s): Ghosts; Memory; Supernatural


AN ancient ghost came up the way
(The western way, the windy way),
Across a world of land and sea,
With greeting from afar to me;

"Hast thou forgot the open way
(The winding way, the wandering way),
With freedom of strong sun and rain
To clear the roving heart of pain?

"Yet still the long roads greet the sun,
And glad wayfarers one by one
Follow the gold day down the West,
That once made part of thy unrest.

"Hast thou forgot the ocean way
(The thunderous way, the wondrous way),
The fierce enchantment of the sea,
The memory, the mystery?

"Yet still the tall ships gather home
From tropic worlds beyond the foam,
And still the south-bound steamers go
Down foreign seas thou once didst know.

"Hast thou forgot the forest way
(The shady way, the silent way),
The thin blue camp-smokes in the dawn,
The brave, bright fires when night came on?

"Still the free forest glooms and shines
With moonlight on the silvered pines,
Although by hill and lonely shore
Their noiseless trails know thee no more."

So came an ancient ghost to me,
Idling beside a winter sea —
The lost familiar of my breast,
The spirit of the old unrest.





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