The Lonely Land

Smith, Arthur James Marshall (1902 - 1980)

Original Text

A. J. M. Smith, The Complete Poems, ed. Brian Trehearne (London, Ontario: Canadian Poetry Press, 2007): 46-47.

1Cedar and jagged fir

2uplift sharp barbs

3against the gray

4and clouded-piled sky;

5and in the bay

6blown spume and windrift

7and thin, bitter spray

8snap

9at the whirling sky;

10and the pine trees

11lean one way.

12A wild duck calls

13to her mate,

14and the ragged

15and passionate tones

16stagger and fall,

17and recover,

18and stagger and fall,

19on these stones—

20are lost

21in the lapping of water

22on smooth, flat stones.

23This is a beauty

24of dissonance,

25this resonance

26of stony strand,

27this smoky cry

28curled over a black pine

29like a broken

30and wind-battered branch

31when the wind

32bends the tops of the pines

33and curdles the sky

34from the north.

35This is the beauty

36of strength

37broken by strength

38and still strong.

Notes

6] "wind-drift" is more likely than "wind-rift" (wind-belch). Back to Line

Publication Start Year

1926

Publication Notes

McGill Fortnightly Review

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire / Sharine Leung

RPO Edition

2011

Rhyme

unrhyming

Form

varying