Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THOUGHTS UPON A WALK WITH NATALIE, MY NIECE, by HAROLD TROWBRIDGE PULSIFER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THOUGHTS UPON A WALK WITH NATALIE, MY NIECE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Here is the same familiar land
Last Line: On this frail ship forevermore?
Subject(s): Family Life; Home; Relatives


Here is the same familiar land
My mother knew when she was young.
This warm earth crumbled to her hand,
She heard these very bird notes sung.

In that green meadow down the lane,
Knee-deep her pony cropped the grass,
The beaten pathways still remain
That felt her flying footsteps pass.

Beyond that willow tree the stream
Plunges forever into foam, --
Let us go there awhile and dream
Of this dear place that was her home.

* * *

She must have stood here long ago
Upon this lichen-covered stone
Where we are now who loved her so;
Blood of her blood, bone of her bone.

She must have watched this sunlit pool
With wonder in her clear young eyes,
Finding within these waters cool
The mystery that never dies.

All this my heart has understood,
Dear child, or ever you were born.
The evening of her womanhood
Long held a vision of the morn.

Yet I had never hoped to see
Through these fair fields, her lambent grace,
Moving beside me on the lea,
Turning to greet me, face to face.

Now by the miracle that filled
Your slender limbs with living fire,
More than my daring spirit willed
Lies in the cup of my desire.

Long hence when you have know my grief
You will look back and understand. . . .
Now let us play awhile. This leaf
Shall be a bark from fairyland!

We'll freight it deep with marigold,
Give it a rainbow for a sail,
Upon the deck a beetle bold
Shall lord it in his flashing mail.

Look! it is drifting down the tide,
Wind-driven from the rocky shore. . . .
Who knows what vagrant dreams may ride
On this frail ship forevermore?





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