At Grass

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The eye can hardly pick them out

From the cold shade they shelter in,

Till wind distresses tail and main;

Then one crops grass, and moves about

- The other seeming to look on -

And stands anonymous again

Yet fifteen years ago, perhaps ----> passage of time

Two dozen distances sufficed

To fable them : faint afternoons

Of Cups and Stakes and Handicaps,

Whereby their names were artificed

To inlay faded, classic Junes -

Silks at the start : against the sky ----> sibilance ( s sound = speed)

Numbers and parasols : outside, ---> class

Squadrons of empty cars, and heat,

And littered grass : then the long cry

Hanging unhushed till it subside

To stop-press columns on the street.

Do memories plague their ears like flies?

They shake their heads. Dusk brims the shadows. ---> encroaching death

Summer by summer all stole away,

The starting-gates, the crowds and cries -

All but the unmolesting meadows.

Almanacked, their names live; they

Have slipped their names, and stand at ease

Or gallop for what must be joy,

And not a fieldglass sees them home,

Or curious stop-watch prophesies : ---> no pressure

Only the groom, and the groom's boy,

With bridles in the evening come.̣ ----> easy death

Appeal to the senses :

'The eye can hardly pick them out

From the cold shade they shelter in,

Till wind distresses tail and mane'

'Squadrons of empty cars, and heat,

And littered grass : then the long cry

Hanging unhushed till it subside'

Unusual verbs :

'fable'

'brim'

'almanac'

Imagery :

'Silks at the start : against the sky

Numbers and parasols : outside,

Squadrons of empty cars, and heat,

And littered grass'

'The eye can hardly pick them out

From the cold shade they shelter in,

Till wind distresses tail and mane'

Humour / light-heartedness :

'Do memories plague their ears like flies?

They shake their heads'

Passage of time :

'Yet fifteen years ago, perhaps

Two dozen distances sufficed

To fable them'

'Summer by summer all stole away,

The starting-gates, the crowds and cries -

All but the unmolesting meadows.

Almanacked, their names live'

Death :

'cold shade'

'dusk brims the shadows'

'Only the groom, and the groom's boy,

With bridles in the evening come'

Escape :

'Unmolesting meadows'

'Have slipped their names, and stand at ease'

Or gallop for what must be joy,

And not a fieldglass sees them home,

Or curious stop-watch prophecies'

passage from freeedom in childhood to responsibility in adulthood and freedom again in old age :

'...faint afternoons

Of Cups and Stakes and Handicaps,

Whereby their names were artificed

To inlay faded, classic Junes'

'...Dusk brims the shadows.

Summer by summer all stole away,

The starting-gates, the crowds, the cries -

All but the unmolesting meadows'

'Have slipped their names, and stand at ease,

Or gallop for what must be joy,

And not a fieldglass sees them home,

Or curious stop-watch prophecies :

Only the groom, and the groom's boy,

With bridles in the evening come.'

Care-free / contentment

'stand at ease'

'gallop for what must be joy'

Fashion / wealth / media interest

'...faint afternoons

Of Cups and Stakes and Handicaps'

'numbers and parasols'

'squadrons of empty cars'

'stop-press columns'

'almanacked, their names live.'

language to emphasise changes in time :

'faint afternoons'

'anonymous --> almanacked, their names live'

'faded, classic Junes'

'Summer by summer all stole away'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhpPJisnCWs (Enclavar)

At Grass

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