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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


OLD HOUSES by LOUIS GINSBERG

First Line: THE GRAY OLD HOUSES ARE HOODED WOMEN PEERING
Last Line: VOICES OF THE VANISHED IN THE YEARS GONE BY!
Subject(s): HOUSES;

The gray old houses are hooded women peering
From sloping towsled bonnets of garrets hung awry;
The gray old houses dream that they are hearing
Voices of their children in the years gone by.

With dim glazed eyes of windows they are staring,
Thinking of a father when broken was his pride;
And while they brood, they wonder where are faring
Lovers that kissed and the girls that cried.

What tales and Romances are dozing and are dreaming
About the broken hearth within the musty gloom?
What stories of loving and quarrelling and scheming
Huddle with their memories to crowd each room?

So hushed they stand, like hooded women peering, --
These worn old houses that always dream and sigh;
And like old mothers, they brood and stare at hearing
Voices of the vanished in the years gone by!



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