Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE LONG ROAD, by PATRICK MACGILL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE LONG ROAD, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The white road leads through the meadows, on
Last Line: Where the spectral moon-fire lies on the road that leads to home.
Subject(s): Home; Old Age


THE white road leads through the meadows, on through the sunshine and shadows,
The endless road to anywhere, the road the navvy knows;
Where the mountains soar in their starkness, piercing the light and the
darkness,
The thin road lies like a ribbon, he follows it where it goes.

He has seen the dewdrops cluster where modest daisies muster,
He has lain on earth's soft bosom, watched by the Milky Way,
Out in the places lonely, with the stars and the silence only,
Chilled with the hate of Winter, warmed with the love of May.

He has padded alone, while the vagrant breezes bore him the fragrant
Scent of the wayside flowers, or blooms from the hills afar,
He has listened the torrents grumble at the hills from which they tumble,
He has seen the soft night kneeling to greet the evening star.

Tired of the reeking hovel, weary of pick and shovel,
He wanders out on the white road in the evening's sheen of gold,
Watching the light that dims on the western hills of crimson,
And longs for the last lone slumber and knows he is growing old.

He goes from the ones who knew him, those who were kindly to him,
Out on the lonely roadway, under the starlit dome,
And follows the path that flies on into the dim horizon
Where the spectral moon-fire lies on the road that leads to home.





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