Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE RIVER, by FLORIAA WATTS SMYTH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE RIVER, by                    
First Line: Old towns set high above the mississippi
Last Line: Is our heritage. We are folded in low hills.
Subject(s): Mississippi River; Rivers


Old towns set high above the Mississippi,
Stray houses on the gray bluffs, you are white
And still and beautiful among the trees.
The black farm land is lapped by the high water.
There is nothing so rich and wide as black fields
At the base of hills.
We speak of the river as old.
Familiar. We cannot say truly that this is the river
Of our fathers, the one they crossed in canoes to hunt
The bear and wildcat. The trough of the river is old;
The waters are new and strange as the flow of life
On a crowded street. They bear a thousand names
From creek and spring at the sources of many streams.
Here is rain we did not feel and melting ice
From the north.
Our forefathers crossed to escape the high water.
We stand on the bluffs. We are safe and the river goes by
Like a stranger who will not pause even for the night.
On the wide reaches of the lower Mississippi
Live those who have no hills. They are caught up
And swept away by the spring flood. We are safe.
The white house on the hill, the black land
Is our heritage. We are folded in low hills.





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