A Life's Story, In Poetry: Other Poems

Dennison Woodcock

• Publisher: Library of Alexandria
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781465660756
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

Borne down by weight of ninety yearsMy limbs have weaker grown; 'Mid joy and grief. 'mid smiles and tears How quick the years have flown. I look 'way back, a distant view, To years of long ago. I asked my brother if he knew What caused the winds to blow. My brother answered me with ease, As if prepared to know; It is those slim and lofty trees That make the wind to blow. I looked and saw the lofty pines Waving to and fro; They were full proof within my mind They were what made it blow. When I felt the chilling breeze, The snowflakes whizzing round; I felt a grudge against those trees.And wished they were cut down. But a wee bit of a childKnew naught of nature's laws; My mind was often running wildAnd took effect for cause. Saw water gushing from a mill, Heard a fluttering sound; As we went riding up the hill, The saw went up and down. It remained a mystery still, The thing I could not know; How water running through a mill Could make the saw to go. A bush had lopped into a stream, Was bobbing up and down; I thought that I had solved the theme The truth there I had found. I went and fixed a limber stick, A saw attached also; It run on water from the creek, The saw it would not go. I went there to recruit my skill, Saw pitman, crank and wheel; Then I went home and built a mill, With saw of tempered steel. When I built that little millI something more than played; It helped to point mechanic skill. It helped to learn a trade. To Boston went to learn a trade, It was the iron founder's, Many patterns there I made, And learned to use the pounders. Pattern-making was a trade, Was often in demand; When I wished a casting made, The shape it came to hand.

Table of contents

• A Life's Story and Other Poems