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— E.E. Cummings

It is said that if the dead who died in the Great

War were placed head to feet, they would stretch

from New York to San Francisco, and from San

Francisco back again to New York; and if those

…

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verb

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THE OLD GOWN

24 lines
Thomas Hardy·1840–1928·naturalism
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HAVE seen her in gowns the brightest,Of azure, green, and red,And in the simplest, whitest,Muslined from heel to head;I have watched her walking, riding,Shade-flecked by a leafy tree,Or in fixed thought abidingBy the foam-fingered sea. In woodlands I have known her,When boughs were mourning loud,In the rain-reek she has shown herWild-haired and watery-browed.And once or twice she has cast meAs she pomped along the streetCourt-clad, ere quite she had passed me,A glance from her chariot-seat. But in my memoried passionFor evermore stands sheIn the gown of fading fashionShe wore that night when we,Doomed long to part, assembledIn the snug small room; yea, whenShe sang with lips that trembled,“Shall I see his face again?”
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