Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BLACKBERRY BRIARS, by ALBERT FREDERICK WILSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BLACKBERRY BRIARS, by                    
First Line: The blackberry briars you bought
Last Line: "seth, we'll let the blackberries go."
Subject(s): Blackberries; Brier; Briar


"The blackberry briars you bought --
I think it is too late
To put them in," Seth said.

"The earth is cold
Clean to the elbow.
Better wait for spring --
They'll rot."

But I went with him
To make sure,
And put my hand
Deep in the broken ground.

He leaned and packed the earth,
And pressed hard with his foot.
He said:
"Just let it stay until
You get the feel of it.
That cold comes on like a creeping palsy."

Then he waited --
Watching me with covered eyes
Until I shuddered
And withdrew my arm.

"You turned a little white," he laughed.

"It's packing the earth," I said,
"Pressing it down the way you do."

"It's a game I learned once
For myself," he said.
"I call it playing
With the sun's shadow.
It isn't just like any cold
That you can think of.
And it's always following him around.

"It's queer," he said,
"When the sun gets through growing things
You can put your hand in almost anywhere
And find it.

"When the sun goes
How can the shadow linger?
That's what I don't understand.

"Sometimes I wonder if -- "

But I said:
"Seth, we'll let the blackberries go."





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