Author: Madison Julius Cawein

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    The barberry burns, the rose-hip crimsons warm,
    And haw and sumach hedge the hill with fire,
    Down which the road winds, worn of hoof and tire,
    Only the blueberry-picker plods now from the farm.
    Here once the quarry-driver, brown of arm,
    Wielded the whip when, deep in mud and mire,
    The axle strained, and earned his daily hire,
    Labouring bareheaded in both sun and storm.
    Wild-cherry now and blackberry and bay
    Usurp the place: the wild-rose, undisturbed,
    Riots, where once the workman earned his wage,
    Whose old hands rest now, like this granite grey,
    These rocks, whose stubborn will whilom he curbed,
    Hard as the toil that was his heritage.

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Type of Poem: Sonnet

Date Written:

Date Published:

Language: English

Keywords: Public Domain

Source: Public Domain Collection

Publisher:

Rights/Permissions: Public Domain

Comments/Notes: This poem effectively explores themes of nature, change, and the passage of time, with a keen sense of nostalgia and a sobering reflection on mortality. The tone is contemplative and slightly melancholic, underscored by the vivid, autumnal imagery and the portrayal of a landscape that has outlasted human activity.

The poem is an intriguing blend of structured rhyme and free verse, creating a sense of order within the overarching theme of natural unpredictability. The poet's use of vivid and specific flora—barberry, haw, sumach, blackberry, wild-cherry—gives a tangible and sensory quality to the poem, and it also underlines the theme of nature's resilience and renewal in the face of human absence.

The poet's use of contrast is noteworthy, particularly with the blueberry picker and the quarry-driver. The former represents the present, a serene, almost idyllic representation of life with nature, while the latter symbolizes the past, a time of hard labor and struggle. There's a subtle commentary on the impermanence of human endeavor when compared to the enduring cycle of nature.

The poem concludes with a poignant image of the workman's old hands, compared to the grey granite and the stubborn rocks he once curbed. This metaphor serves as a powerful reminder of the correlation between human life and nature: both are shaped by time, both endure hardship, and both eventually return to a state of rest. The use of the word 'heritage' in the final line lends a sense of continuity, suggesting that while individuals come and go, the legacy of their toil—and the world itself—continues.