The Wind in the Hemlock
- Steely stars and moon of brass,
- How mockingly you watch me pass!
- You know as well as I how soon
- I shall be blind to stars and moon,
- Deaf to the wind in the hemlock tree,
- Dumb when the brown earth weighs on me.
- With envious dark rage I bear,
- Stars, your cold complacent stare;
- Heart-broken in my hate look up,
- Moon, at your clear immortal cup,
- Changing to gold from dusky red --
- Age after age when I am dead
- To be filled up with light, and then
- Emptied, to be refilled again.
- What has man done that only he
- Is slave to death -- so brutally
- Beaten back into the earth
- Impatient for him since his birth?
- Oh let me shut my eyes, close out
- The sight of stars and earth and be
- Sheltered a minute by this tree.
- Hemlock, through your fragrant boughs
- There moves no anger and no doubt,
- No envy of immortal things.
- The night-wind murmurs of the sea
- With veiled music ceaselessly,
- That to my shaken spirit sings.
- From their frail nest the robins rouse,
- In your pungent darkness stirred,
- Twittering a low drowsy word --
- And me you shelter, even me.
- In your quietness you house
- The wind, the woman and the bird.
- You speak to me and I have heard:
- If I am peaceful, I shall see
- Beauty's face continually;
- Feeding on her wine and bread
- I shall be wholly comforted,
- For she can make one day for me
- Rich as my lost eternity.
--Sara Teasdale
That is beautiful. Thank you.
Posted by: Ruth | Thursday, February 02, 2006 at 08:01 PM
Oh, that is a wonderful choice. Thank you.
Posted by: Norma | Thursday, February 02, 2006 at 10:14 PM
Beautiful - thanks. Thought-provoking for this Friday morning.......
Posted by: christine | Friday, February 03, 2006 at 09:57 AM
Boy, talk about not going gentle into that good night! I'm glad the hemlock managed to work with her on her anger issues :)
Posted by: Martha | Friday, February 03, 2006 at 10:16 AM
Magnificent. And not unrelated to my poem, actually.
Posted by: Beth S. | Friday, February 03, 2006 at 11:37 AM
Do you realize that your Weather Pixie is over there wearing a half shirt?! You better watch that girl...you've explained the birds and the bees to her, right? ;)
Posted by: Bookish Wendy | Friday, February 03, 2006 at 10:19 PM
My favorite so far, thank you.
Posted by: Teresa C | Saturday, February 04, 2006 at 08:09 AM
Imagine my surprise! I thought I was the only person left on earth who reads Sara Teasdale, and now you are the second person to use one of her poems for the Silent Poetry Reading. You've made my day! Go Sara!
Posted by: adelaide | Wednesday, February 08, 2006 at 02:38 PM