Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE TREES OF HADDONFIELD, by THOMAS J. MURRAY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE TREES OF HADDONFIELD, by                    
First Line: I sing of haddonfield, west jersey's town
Last Line: The starry banner and the union jack.
Subject(s): Cities; New Jersey; Trees; Urban Life


I sing of Haddonfield, West Jersey's town
Whose name was ancient when the British George
Flung Hessian tools and stalwart English blood
Across the ocean leagues to his far lands
That blazed in red rebellion; Tories fawned
In Penn's green country town on this great host
And, stooping, begged their Excellencies' wish.

The Winter passed in revelry and song,
And all the captured city's windows burned,
While hall and tavern throbbed with mellow mirth;
But, past the English outposts, Valley Forge
Shrank in an iron Winter's harsh embrace,
Its loyal legions looking o'er the snow,
Torn by the double foes of want and cold.

Then turned the tides of war and eastward fled
The foe to troop-ships at the Hudson's mouth;
Through sylvan Haddonfield arms and the men
Thronged the King's Highway, labeled then as now,
Under some pleasant trees that have outlived
The fleeing enemy and valiant friend;
Beneath their branches floated battle flags
Stained with defeat to travel overseas,
Leaving behind an empire and a flag. . . .

The sap stirred in these trees a hundred Springs,
And in their shade men talked and trooped to wars;
Long afterward, nearby, a temple reared
Whose screen flashed moving films of battletides
Of puppet regiments on peaceful fields,
While o'er the roof the trees' great branches tossed
As though in anger at this hollow show,
And would recall from out the years a scene
To render pitiful this mimic fray,
When in the dust-clouds of retreating foes
Faded the royal hopes of high emprise.

Again beneath the lordly trees there swims
The crimson flag of England last descried
Fading afar above the sullen lines;
But now, allied in Freedom's holy cause,
On swirling motor cars the colors swim --
The starry banner and the Union Jack.





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