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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A STREET SONG by WILSON PUGSLEY MACDONALD

First Line: RARE WINE IS THEIRS
Last Line: FOR THE SILENT PLACES.

RARE wine is theirs
Who have no taste for wine;
For them who have no hunger
Great herds of kine;
For hearts that have no craving
Delight and laughter
In the days that were -- and now,
And in the days hereafter.

But Thirst must walk
The hot, unwatered lands;
And Hunger must stalk
With white and empty hands;
And Rest must move forever,
And Peace assemble
Where the great guns boom and crash
And the brown rocks tremble.

No love have I
Whose heart was made for loving;
No lands have I
Whose foot was made for roving.
Lonely now I walk the street,
Cold with alien faces --
Lonely from the long defeat
And the yearning, bitter-sweet,
For the silent places.



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