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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
OLD PEOPLE, by PEARL HOGREFE
First Line: Their house is quiet now. They have no guests
Last Line: They rest, like silent earth from which they came.
Subject(s): Old Age
First Line: Their house is quiet now. They have no guests
Last Line: They rest, like silent earth from which they came.
Subject(s): Old Age
Their house is quiet now. They have no guests.
Only neighbors come to buy some eggs
Or use a saw. Within a silent yard,
Where boys once played at marbles, grass springs up
In spots of hardened earth. Their winding street,
Which ends beside a stream, is seldom used,
Except by college lovers, arm in arm,
At whom they look with vague, unseeing stare,
Forgetting times they sang, so long ago.
In summer, free from ice, they live content.
Sometimes they rise at five. They cannot sleep.
They hoe potatoes, corn, or spicy pinks
They used to love. With rocks, with earth, with rabbits,
Small and shy, who come to nibble peas,
They are at home -- but not with restless folk.
At dusk they drowse upon their quiet porch,
Awake to voices, gentle feet on walks,
And then return to sleep. Full darkness comes:
They rest, like silent earth from which they came.
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