Monday, November 8, 2010

No!

No!
 No sun--no moon!  
No morn--no noon!  
No dawn--no dusk--no proper time of day--  
No sky--no earthly view--  
No distance looking blue--  
No road--no street--no "t'other side this way"--  
No end to any Row--  
No indications where the Crescents go--  
No top to any steeple--  
No recognitions of familiar people--  
No courtesies for showing 'em--  
No knowing 'em!  
No traveling at all--no locomotion--  
No inkling of the way--no notion--  
"No go" by land or ocean--  
No mail--no post--  
No news from any foreign coast--  
No Park, no Ring, no afternoon gentility--  
No company--no nobility--  
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,  
No comfortable feel in any member--  
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,  
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds--  
November!
- Thomas Hood



Thanks, Mrs. Yates. I have this poem on my mind during every November since about the 8th grade. I can't remember my line... though in my head I can hear the expression, and lack thereof, of my classmates as we read it every day for roll-call. No knowing 'em!

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