Saturday, November 17, 2012

Adlestrop

By Edward Thomas

Yes, I remember Adlestrop -- 
The name, because one afternoon 
Of heat the express-train drew up there 
Unwontedly. It was late June. 

The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. 
No one left and no one came 
On the bare platform. What I saw 
Was Adlestrop -- only the name 

And willows, willow-herb, and grass, 
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, 
No whit less still and lonely fair 
Than the high cloudlets in the sky. 

And for that minute a blackbird sang 
Close by, and round him, mistier, 
Farther and farther, all the birds 
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. 


Comments : A friend introduced me to the poem today (Thanks V) and claimed that Chunabhatti station on a sunday afternoon is like Adlestrop - no one comes and no one leaves, and there're bushes and birds singing. Can't vouch for the truth of that, but I did like the poem.         - Zen

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