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Aftermath

When the Summer fields are mown,
When the birds are fledged and flown
And the dry leaves strew the path;
With the falling of the snow,
With the cawing of the crow,
Once again the fields we mow
And gather in the aftermath.

Not the sweet new grass with flowers
Is this harvesting of ours;
Not the upland clover bloom;
But the rowen mixed with weeds,
Tangled tufts from marsh and meads,
Where the poppy drops its seeds.
In the silence and the gloom.

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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

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Premiere: 1981 Carnegie Recital Hall, Michael Parloff, flute

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