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Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

The Owl

Alfred Lord Tennyson

When cats run home and light is come,
  And dew is cold upon the ground,
And the far-off stream is dumb,
  And the whirring sail goes round,
  And the whirring sail goes round,
    Alone and warming his five wits,
    The white owl in the belfry sits.

When merry milkmaids click the latch,
  And rarely smells the new-mown hay,
And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch
  Twice or thrice his roundelay,
  Twice or thrice his roundelay;
    Alone and warming his five wits,
    The white owl in the belfry sits.
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Required Poems for Reading and Memorizing: Third and Fourth Grades, Prescribed by State Courses of Study | 1920
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