Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HERBS, by LIZETTE WOODWORTH REESE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A serviceable thing Last Line: And not the sons of men? Subject(s): Herbs | ||||||||
A SERVICEABLE thing Is fennel, mint, or balm, Kept in the thrifty calm Of hollows, in the spring; Or by old houses pent. Dear is its ancient scent To folk that love the days forgot, Nor think that God is not. Sage, lavender, and rue, For body's hurt and ill, For fever and for chill; Rosemary, strange with dew, For sorrow and its smart, For breaking of the heart. Yet pain, dearth, tears, all come to dust, As even the herbs must. Life-everlasting, too, Windless, poignant, and sere, That blows in the old year, Townsmen, for me and you. Why fret for wafting airs? Why haste to sell our wares? Captains and clerks, this shall befall; This is the end of all. Oh, this the end indeed! Oh, unforgotten things, Gone out of all the springs; The quest, the dream, the creed! Gone out of all the lands, And yet safe in God's hands; -- For shall the dull herbs live again, And not the sons of men? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A MEDIC GATHERS MUSHROOMS FOR HIS LADY by GRACE STONE COATES ESSENTIAL OILS ARE WRUNG by EMILY DICKINSON HERB-GATHERER by SARA BARD FIELD COTTAGE MUSK by ARTHUR THOMAS QUILLER-COUCH A SELLER OF HERBS (A RHYME OF A BALTIMORE MARKET) by LIZETTE WOODWORTH REESE THE THREE WREATHS by LIZETTE WOODWORTH REESE THE HERB SHOP by GEORGIA DAY SHERWOOD A SONG OF A GARDEN by KATHARINE TYNAN A CHRISTMAS FOLK-SONG by LIZETTE WOODWORTH REESE |
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