Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SUPPLIANT by KATHARINE BROWN BURT

First Line: O WONDER-HAUNTED VALLEY, SEA-MERGED LAND
Last Line: DAWN ON THE HILLS, AND PARADISE REGAINED!
Subject(s): HEAVEN; PARADISE;

O wonder-haunted valley, sea-merged land,
I turn with chastened heart and weary eye,
Who spurned your wonted peace with careless hand
To seek the highway where the world goes by.
I come to you, my spirit dull and spent,
Song but a legend, courage drugged with pain,
Groping with troubled step, a penitent,
To woo your cloistered solitude again.
The road bends eagerly, compassionate
With tang of bay and race of autumn wine.
Rapt by the wall the shadowy cedars wait,
True as a monolith the blackening pine.
For this, for this the sands of joy were drained, --
Dawn on the hills, and paradise regained!



Home: PoetryExplorer.net