Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SECOND MOWING, by HAROLD VINAL


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SECOND MOWING, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A swish of scythes goes running through the field
Last Line: By the water there nor care to look at it.
Subject(s): Mowing And Mowers


I

A swish of scythes goes running through the field,
A shrill of voices where the reapers pass,
The wind moves the green flavor of the grass,
The clover goes to dust, the young stalks yield.
Up goes a flight of birds in a long file,
Dry dandelion seed by the brook's edge,
A ripple of wind sifts through the sultry hedge,
The swishing scythes are silent for a while.
Beyond the fences sour apples fall,
And torpid thistles wilt on the hill's brow,
Red surrants wither by the pasture wall,
And bees are lean with sudden hunger now.
Low geese go over crying for a lake
Of water and the very meadows ache.

II

At this time shall new trees forget to sprout
Upon a hill and sap forget to stir,
Smooth bees grow weary of and endless whir
Over the orchards and a slim lad's shout
End by the frothy pool, dull butterflies
Sink to the mown hay and spiders in the trees
Leave their webs dangling shabbily in the breeze,
And weeds brittle along the pasturesides.
Young girls cease singing and the inky crows
Go down the pastures and the bull frogs stifle
Their croaking by the banks and the winds rifle
The hush in the solid woods when a day goes.
Sweethearts move to the meadow end and sit
By the water there nor care to look at it.





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