Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MISSOURI, by FLORIAA WATTS SMYTH


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MISSOURI, by                    
First Line: I cannot sleep when sunrise comes to wake
Last Line: On these dark hills beneath missouri skies.
Subject(s): Missouri


I cannot sleep when sunrise comes to wake
My blue Missouri hills, for there I see
Each day the beauty of eternity.
Light runs too fast for me to overtake,
But I will trail its footsteps while I wake.

Sometimes I hear the beat
Of early settlers' feet
Along forgotten roads;
And where two rivers meet,
The "voyageurs" slip by
With sudden warning cry;
With glad and gallant song,
The "voyageurs" slip by.

I live and grow beneath Missouri trees.
They draw me closer to the heart of earth;
They make me one with every seedling's birth,
With those remote, those age-old mysteries
That dwell within the bark of living trees.

Sometimes I hear them pass
Across the meadow grass,
Between the old oak trees.
I see our grandsires pass --
Missourians who sought
By word and deed and thought
To mold a splendid State;
For this they fought.
Missouri gave them rest,
They lie within her breast,
Their children's children tread
The paths their feet have pressed.

When night comes down to dim the sunset skies
And those bright lands beyond the evening star,
My heart turns back from visions, vast and far;
My homing heart turns back where evening lies
On these dark hills beneath Missouri skies.





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