Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IN TOWN, by LOUIS JONES MAGEE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IN TOWN, by                    
First Line: We dwellers on the city street
Last Line: Or roof of thatch.
Subject(s): Cities; Towns; Urban Life


WE dwellers on the city street
Too little see, too little praise,
How Nature yields herself to meet
Man's modern ways.

Not far from crowds and rows of shops
We've still a world that's fresh and new,
And still above the chimney tops
Our sky is blue.

Oh, sweet! that green things find a place
Amidst this stern civility;
That beauty even here can grace
Utility!

That thrushes care to sing and nest
Here, where this patch of woodland lies
Close to the city's heart to rest
Our tired eyes!

What matter if our river flows
More slowly than a river should?
Canals would hasten more, one knows,
If they but could.

These boats that peasant mothers guide
Past lofty house-fronts, towers, and domes,
To us, o'er-strained, o'er-cityfied,
Are country homes.

Hard on the highway's noise and dust
I know a path where still remain
Wild things enough to make it just
A country lane.

Each sunset over bridge and wall
Relieves a care, bestows a charm,
The same as where the shadows fall
On field and farm.

For hearts must fear and hope and wait,
Be they behind a lock or latch, --
Whether beneath the tile and slate
Or roof of thatch.





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