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Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

Pastime

Christina Rossetti

A boat amid the ripples, drifting, rocking,
  Two idle people, without pause or aim;
While in the ominous west there gathers darkness
    Flushed with flame.

A haycock in a hayfield backing, lapping,
  Two drowsy people pillowed round about;
While in the ominous west across the darkness
    Flame leaps out.

Better a wrecked life than a life so aimless,
  Better a wrecked life than a life so soft;
The ominous west glooms thundering, with its fire
    Lit aloft.
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From A Pageant and Other Poems | 1881
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