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This poem is taken from PN Review 92, Volume 19 Number 6, July - August 1993.

Traveler William I. Elliot

"Traveler upon this hill
  Drink this water, drink your fill
  And when you've drunk just ring the bell.
  I'll hear what the bell is telling -
  'Thank you very much' and
  'The pitcher needs refilling.'"

Who was to know if the lines didn't scan?
Who couldn't feel how perfect, artlessly
Lovely the rhymes that passed through Granny's heart?

A path rose four miles inland from the coast
And Granny's was a half-way house, half-way
In and half-way out, cutting through the fields
Tickled, when the rain was right, by runnels.
When travelers arrived at pathway's end
They found a boulder and, behind, a cross
On which the words were painted, THOMAS FINN
...


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