Page:Anthology of Magazine Verse (1921).djvu/147
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SONNET TO A PLOUGH-WOMAN OF NORWAY
Deep-bosomed, stalwart-limbed, superbly made,
Unconscious of her power and her grace,
Accustomed to the blowzy wind's embrace,
Magnificent, unlettered, unafraid.
She guides her course past interlacing streams
Striding the fields behind her ancient plough,
Or halts beneath some blossoming, frail bough
To rest her beast and give herself to dreams.
Her eyes survey the road, the moor, the peat,
With wide, untroubled gaze, she plays no part,
No joys rise up to suffocate her heart
Because a smile falls lightly at her feet.
To one who comes for her at dusk, perchance,
She lifts a brief intoxicated glance.
Unconscious of her power and her grace,
Accustomed to the blowzy wind's embrace,
Magnificent, unlettered, unafraid.
She guides her course past interlacing streams
Striding the fields behind her ancient plough,
Or halts beneath some blossoming, frail bough
To rest her beast and give herself to dreams.
Her eyes survey the road, the moor, the peat,
With wide, untroubled gaze, she plays no part,
No joys rise up to suffocate her heart
Because a smile falls lightly at her feet.
To one who comes for her at dusk, perchance,
She lifts a brief intoxicated glance.
Contemporary VerseMargaret Tod Ritter
WATER NOISES
When I am playing by myself,
And all the boys are lost around,
Then I can hear the water go—
It makes a little talking sound.
And all the boys are lost around,
Then I can hear the water go—
It makes a little talking sound.
Along the rocks below the tree,
I see it ripple up and wink;
And I can hear it saying on,
"And do you think? and do you think?"
I see it ripple up and wink;
And I can hear it saying on,
"And do you think? and do you think?"
A bug shoots by that snaps and ticks,
And a bird flies up beside the tree
To go into the sky to sing.
I hear it say, "Killdee, killdee!"
And a bird flies up beside the tree
To go into the sky to sing.
I hear it say, "Killdee, killdee!"
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