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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS by CHARLES R. MURPHY

First Line: HERE EARTH AND SKY AND THUDDING HOOFS OF HORSES
Last Line: BRINGING ITS ELDER PRESENCE -- AND CLOSED EYES.
Subject(s): DEATH; LIFE; MOUNTAINS; DEAD, THE; HILLS; DOWNS (GREAT BRITAIN);
I

Here earth and sky and thudding hoofs of horses
And years, long gone, come together at last;
And dead people ride high on mountain courses,
Above the fields of tree-stumps and the vast
Slow sinking of the night, toward the sun.
These people had as long a day as any
In this the land they loved; now one by one
They have retreated with the more and many
To the dark house of one remembering mind
Whose light is but the shadow of new death,
When thought shall turn away to leave behind,
In night of exile, men who drew quick breath
For mountain beauty and the sky that showed
The dust of mica in the friendly road.

II

Be not afraid for any beating heart
That ceased, years gone, in such a place as this,
Be not afraid; or grieve that years depart
Like downward water where no staying is;
If lives are not exactly garnets strewn
Upon the road, at least they did deny
No right their matrix had to give them boon
Of life (wherein each took as much of sky
As flowers born of ruby blood may hold),
And pasturage of beauty for their day,
Where rooted trees and valleys and the old
Majesty of distance showed them the way
A heart may wait for the new night to rise
Bringing its elder presence -- and closed eyes.



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