The Graduate Leaving College

George Moses Horton 1779 (North Carolina) – 1883



What summons do I hear?
The morning peal, departure's knell;
My eyes let fall a friendly tear,
And bid this place farewell.

Attending servants come,
The carriage wheels like thunders roar,
To bear the pensive seniors home,
Here to be seen no more.

Pass one more transient night,
The morning sweeps the college clean;
The graduate takes his last long flight,
No more in college seen.

The bee, which courts the flower,
Must with some pain itself employ,
And then fly, at the day's last hour,
Home to its hive with joy.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 04, 2023

28 sec read
134

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXA XBXB CDCD EFEF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 524
Words 94
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

George Moses Horton

George Moses Horton was an African-American poet and the first African American poet to be published in the Southern United States. His book was published in 1828 while he was still a slave; he remained a slave until he was emancipated late in the Civil War. more…

All George Moses Horton poems | George Moses Horton Books

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