THEY said 'Farewell' in a hundred rending ways To peace and the stars that shook their radiance free; Farewell to laughing ranks of hope's bright days Poised on their moments of expectancy. No old-world songs or old-time fancies swim Like a soft cloud of scent, or light, or sound Into their days of vanity; no dim Eternities of longing wrap them round. Their wit's uncertainties may not dispel, Nor any conscious subterfuge compose Unending restlessness; they who rebel Against the arrogant beauty of the rose! The towns are full of wandering haunted men No hidden waters call; their gain and loss Have trapped them, they will never see again The old logs mouldering in their cloaks of moss. Or, seeing them, their weary hearts stay still; Far, far from here, beyond the City gate, The tinkling bell-birds call from creek to hill, The she-oaks in their verdant shackles wait! And tall grey gums, soaked in the rustle of showers Rear through a falling heaven of friendly cloud Like banded ghosts of Summer's radiant hours, Conscious of their vast ancestry -- and proud. Nor can the valleys where the thrushes sang, Where dodging robins scouted down the ways, Nor odour of drenched verdure send their pang Of peace unutterable across these days. Comes fear upon these people for sweet things So peaceably forgotten, calm unknown? Comes a bush fear on their mad wanderings That their cars thrash the roads from town to town? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNET TO THOSE WHO SEE BUT DARKLY by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SPECIAL PLEADING by SIDNEY LANIER ITALIAN PICTURES: JULY IN VALLOMBROSA by MINA LOY CORPORATE ENTITY by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH MR. HOUSMAN'S MESSAGE by EZRA POUND TO A LADY WHO HAD OFFERED HIM A WREATH OF LAUREL by GEORGE SANTAYANA |