Collected Poems of John Holmes
Holmes, John A., Jr.
2002
New England names
New England names
These are New England names I love: Deerfield River and Provincetown, Gurnet Point where the beach goes down, Monhegan, Boothbay, Damariscove. | |
The shores of Maine, Monadonock, New England rivers and towns and hills, Connecticut, Berkshire, Mountain Mills New England earth and New England rock. | |
How can a man go west of Hudson River, Or south below Long Island Sound, And not remember, and not turn round, And not come back to his home forever? | |
Concord and Lexington call and call. How can he not be hungry to hear Vermont and Maine, not want to be near Now England elm trees, slim and ta1l? | |
There's name and sound and feel or a place In hearing Androscoggin said, And to hear Hyannis or Marblehead In a stranger's town, is a well-known face. | |
Newburyport and Christmas Cove, Exeter, Hadley, Freedom, Lynn: In outland states where I have been These are New England names I loved. | |