I said, This misery must end

I said, This misery must end

Original Text
The Verse of Christopher Brennan, ed. A. R. Chisholm and J. J. Quinn (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1960): 168. PR 6003 R352A17 Robarts Library
1I said, This misery must end:
2Shall I, that am a man and know
3that sky and wind are yet my friend,
4sit huddled under any blow?
5so speaking left the dismal room
6and stept into the mother-night
7all fill'd with sacred quickening gloom
8where the few stars burn'd low and bright,
9and darkling on my darkling hill
10heard thro' the beaches' sullen boom
11heroic note of living will
12rung trumpet-clear against the fight;
13so stood and heard, and rais'd my eyes
14erect, that they might drink of space,
15and took the night upon my face,
16till time and trouble fell away
17and all my soul sprang up to feel
18as one among the stars that reel
19in rhyme on their rejoicing way,
20breaking the elder dark, nor stay
22till time and sorrow fall away
23and night be wither'd up, and fire
24consume the sickness of desire.

Notes

21] tramelling gyre: entangling vortex. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1914
Publication Notes
Poems 1913 (1914). See Australian Poets eTexts Project, The Sydney Electronic Text and Image Service (SETIS)
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire; Cameron La Follette
RPO Edition
2011