Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, RURAL INTERLUDE, by FORREST HOOD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

RURAL INTERLUDE, by                    
First Line: The scandal spread like flames befoer the wind
Last Line: If I was young and full of thwarted dreams.
Subject(s): Unfaithfulness; Infidelity; Adultery; Inconstancy


The scandal spread like flames before the wind,
And phones clicked all along the party line
When Maggie Smith called Del and told the news.
Old wives in rapt attention shushed the men;
Some reached for coats before the call was through.

Last night Jim's boy had come to Mag's for milk.
While there he asked, "What is a broken heart?"
Mag, with a little prying and some cake,
Persuaded him to tell the whole affair.
It seems that Jim had played both fast and loose
With Flo, the maid, while Nel had gone away
To see the Doc about a fancied ill.
Upon return she sensed the subtle change
In Jim and how he viewed the buxom Flo
In a new light. She fired the girl and cried.

That week the younger set put on a play,
And all the town turned out in mass to see --
Poor Jim. But Jim, God bless his grit, just laughed.
For searching eyes can't see an aching heart,
And what disguises tears better than smiles?

Some blame young Jim, but shucks! I ain't no judge
To say what's right and wrong. I only know
That life can be in its futility
A living hell. A whining wife and kids
Don't help a bit when one has planned a lot
And sees each dream crash down into the dust.
Law! I don't know but what I'd do the same
If I was young and full of thwarted dreams.





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