Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WINTER IS LONG, by CALE YOUNG RICE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WINTER IS LONG, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Low autumn clouds and a wind to take them anywhere
Last Line: The winter is long.
Subject(s): Winter


Low autumn clouds and a wind to take them anywhere.
Wild flying leaves, that do not know they are dead,
Because the limbs they have fallen from are unforgotten,
And all spring said.

Rain is coming, and with it cold, the traveller,
Out of the north, to harden the earth with frost.
Then those children of death, the leaves, will lie down quietly,
No longer wind-tossed.

This has happened before. This will happen forever.
The old habits of earth are strange and strong.
Turn monk or faun, then -- and pray, or rove the woods joyfully.
The winter is long.





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