Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A MESSAGE TO MICHAEL by KATHLEEN JESSIE RAINE

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHEN WE HAD FOUND THAT THERE IS NO WAY TO THE WHITE MOUNTAIN
Last Line: THEIR DISTANCE IS THE SPAN OF WHAT WE ARE.
Subject(s): MOUNTAINS; HILLS; DOWNS (GREAT BRITAIN);
When we had found that there is no way to the white mountain
We knew that we had been there always.
The direct route to the summit
That we had scarcely sighted through mist and cloud
Is miracle, not even difficult.
Our being is the single, simple thing,
And the mountain and the longing, poles apart
Become the axis of the living world:
Their distance is the span of what we are.



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