Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MARSHES, by MABEL WARD RUDD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MARSHES, by                    
First Line: Where, through rank thatch, the grasping sea has put
Last Line: To see the last trace of the marshes pass?
Subject(s): Birds; Cities; Native Americans; Swamps; Urban Life; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America; Bogs; Fens; Marshes


Where, through rank thatch, the grasping sea has put
Its wavering arms, the sodden marshes spread
Like imprint of an Indian's massive foot,
To mark where once the painted warrior sped
On sinuous trail across the quivering land.
As if some fantasy is now at play,
Marsh hay is cocked in stilted mounds, to stand
Like Indian wigwams of a former day.

A tract, deserted, save when herons wade
Or gulls wheel inland from the restless bay
To circle where some willow brush has made
A hedge or where the doleful rushes sway.

Soon, now, the city, in its vigorous growth,
Must stretch its body over this morass.
Will none but herons and the gulls be loath
To see the last trace of the marshes pass?





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