The Sower
The Sower
Original Text
Toru Dutt, A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields (London: C. Kegan Paul, 1880): 122. Internet Archive
1Sitting in a porchway cool,
2Sunlight, I see, dying fast,
3Twilight hastens on to rule.
4Working hours have well-nigh past.
5Shadows run across the lands:
6But a sower lingers still,
7Old, in rags, he patient stands.
8Looking on, I feel a thrill.
9Black and high, his silhouette
10Dominates the furrows deep!
11Now to sow the task is set.
12Soon shall come a time to reap.
13Marches he along the plain
14To and fro, and scatters wide
15From his hands the precious grain;
16Muse I, as I see him stride.
17Darkness deepens. Fades the light.
18Now his gestures to mine eyes
19Are august; and strange, -- his height
20Seems to touch the starry skies.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
Data entry: Shraine Leung
RPO Edition
2012