In the Hand of the Wind
In the Hand of the Wind
"Lord, I am passing in the hand of the wind."
Original Text
Theodore Goodridge Roberts, The Leather Bottle (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1934): 68.
Internet Archive.
2 And now, of all my glory what will stand?--
3The echo of a love song, like thin smoke
4 Blown down the valleys of a kindly land.
5O green walled gardens, I have loved you so!
6 Take no heed of the passing when I go.
7The wind that spilled your roses yesterday
8 Blows sharp upon me, heralding the snow:
9The wind that blew the yellow buds to bloom,
10 And filled with dancing gold our vine-girt room
11When I have sung of summer and delight,
12 Sings now of silence and the roses’ doom:
13The wind that kissed us yesterday, to-day
14 Blows sharp upon me with a breath of clay,
15Blows cold across the vineyards in the sun
16 And stills the flutter of the leaves at play.
17Lord, I am passing in the wind’s lean hand!
18 And now of all my glory, what will stand?
19A whisper in the vines along the wall,
20 As of a lost song in a haunted land.
Notes
1] Epigraph unidentified. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1902
Publication Notes
Kit Bag
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire / Sharine Leung
RPO Edition
2011
Rhyme
Form