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The Old Men Used to Sing

Annie Louisa Walker 1836 (Staffordshire) – 1907 (Bath, Somerset)

The old men used to sing
And lifted a brother
Carefully
Out the door
I used to think they
Were born
Knowing how to
Gently swing
A casket
They shuffled softly
Eyes dry
More awkward
With the flowers
Than with the widow
After they'd put the
Body in
And stood around waiting
In their
Brown suits.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

17 sec read
116

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGAHCIJKLMNAOP
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 282
Words 58
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 19
Full analysis for The Old Men Used to Sing »

Annie Louisa Walker

Anna (Annie) Louisa Walker was an English and Canadian teacher and author. She was the author of five novels and two collections of poetry, and edited an autobiography. Her poem "The Night Cometh" provides the text of the popular hymn "Work, for the night is coming". more…

All Annie Louisa Walker poems | Annie Louisa Walker Books

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1 Comment
  • reading
    reading
    I thought this was written by alice walker??
    LikeReply1 year ago

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"The Old Men Used to Sing" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/3328/the-old-men-used-to-sing>.

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