I Blow across the stagnant world, I blow across the sea, For me, the sailor's flag unfurled, For me, the uprooted tree. My challenge to the world is hurled; The world must bow to me. I drive the clouds across the sky, I huddle them like sheep; Merciless shepherd-dog am I And shepherd-watch I keep. If in the quiet vales they lie I blow them up the steep. Lo! In the tree-tops do I hide, In every living thing; On the moon's yellow wings I glide, On the wild rose I swing; On the sea-horse's back I ride, And what then do I bring? And when a little child is ill I pause, and with my hand I wave the window curtain's frill That he may understand Outside the wind is blowing still; ...It is a pleasant land. O stranger in a foreign place, See what I bring to you. This rain -- is tears upon your face; I tell you -- tell you true I came from that forgotten place Where once the wattle grew, -- All the wild sweetness of the flower Tangled against the wall. It was that magic, silent hour.... The branches grew so tall They twined themselves into a bower. The sun shown... and the fall Of yellow blossom on the grass! You feel that golden rain? Both of you could not hold, alas, (both of you tried, in vain) A memory, stranger. So I pass.... It will not come again | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HIS LADY'S HAND by THOMAS WYATT HYMN OF THE CITY by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT BINSEY POPLARS (FELLED 1879) by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS THE LADY POVERTY by ALICE MEYNELL REPRESSION OF WAR EXPERIENCE by SIEGFRIED SASSOON REVELATION by ROBERT PENN WARREN FROM A YOUNG WOMAN TO AN OLD OFFICER WHO COURTED HER by ELIZABETH FRANCES AMHERST |