Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THEY WILL COME BACK, by EDWIN H. ROLFSON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THEY WILL COME BACK, by                    
First Line: Blow, winds, blow
Last Line: O they will come back, wind.
Subject(s): Wind


Blow, winds, blow;
Pick up the black dirt and shove it down
the farmer's throat.

Burn, Sun, burn
The crops that should feed gaping mouths
And gaunt stomachs.
Burn, Sun, and dry up the rivers and the water holes.

Black drifts cover the hog pen
And reach high against the barn;
O how you must have blown, Wind!

Down by the creek,
Where violets used to purple the grass,
Lies the stinking carcass
Of a registered shorthorn bull.

The wheat came up like a great green wave,
Heavy with promise of new barns,
A good stove for the kitchen,
College for the kid,
A payment on the mortgage,
A new car in the garage.

Blink your burning red eye, Sun,
You did a good job.

Like ants they stream away.
Leaving their sunscorched fields;
Their dirt-entombed houses.

But they will come back, Sun,
O they will come back, Wind.





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