Adlestrop
by Edward Thomas
Yes, I remember Adlestrop —
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly.  It was late June.
The steam hissed.  Someone cleared his throat.	5
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop — only the name
And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,	10
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds	15
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
Adlestrop — Adlestrop is a village near the border of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire in the southwest part of England. On 23 June 1914, Thomas was riding on a train that stopped at Adlestrop even though it was not scheduled to do so. As usual, he was carrying a notebook, in which he wrote, “Then we stopped at Adlestrop, thro the willows cd be heard a chain of blackbirds songs at 12.45 & one thrush & no man seen, only a hiss of engine letting off steam. Stopping outside Campden by banks of long grass willow herb & meadowsweet, extraordinary silence between the two periods of travel.” This experience inspired this poem, written two years later.
meadowsweet — a species of plant in the rose family
haycocks — conical haystacks