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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE WOOD MILL, by LUTHER LAURENCE DOWRICK PRATT
First Line: ...Zing...Whang...Zing...Whang...Zing
Last Line: Grim rites -- where steam drives hard, and steel is stern.
Alternate Author Name(s): Pratt, Laurence
Subject(s): Mills And Millers
First Line: ...Zing...Whang...Zing...Whang...Zing
Last Line: Grim rites -- where steam drives hard, and steel is stern.
Alternate Author Name(s): Pratt, Laurence
Subject(s): Mills And Millers
... Zing ... whang ... zing ... whang ... zing;
the snarling drag-saws bare their fangs and rend
the stricken forms of monster trees. They send
their grinning teeth deep, deep. They gloat and sing,
devour their victims piecemeal, whine, and fling
from slavered jaws the sawdust morsels -- spend
their greed on bark and bones. Their chortles blend
in zing ... whang ... zing ... whang ... zing,
To free the soul, ascetics flagellate
and mortify the flesh. To purge the gold
of dross, the searching fires torment and burn.
To make a metamorphosis, their fate
brings hemlocks to the mill where gaunt saws hold
grim rites -- where steam drives hard, and steel is stern.
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Other Poems of Interest...
THE MILLER'S DAUGHTER by JOHN CROWE RANSOM
MY FATHER'S GARDEN by DAVID WAGONER
HANCHEN, THE MAID OF THE MILL by WILLIAM MCGONAGALL
LUBBER BREEZE by THOMAS STURGE MOORE
STEEL MILL MEN by JULIAN LEE RAYFORD
KINGRY'S MILL by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY
THE JOLLY MILLER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY
THE OLD HOME BY THE MILL by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY
LAMENT OF GRANITE by DAVID ROSS
THE MILLER AND HIS ADVISERS; AN APOLOGUE by JOHN GODFREY SAXE