To the Spirit of the West
To the Spirit of the West
Original Text
Seranus, Later Poems and New Villanelles
(Toronto: the author, 1928): 4.
1God of the rivers and lakes,
2Maker of manifold blooms,
4Weaver of violet glooms,
6Pearly, and grey, and white,
8Heart of the heron in flight,
9Lord of the torrents that forge
10Their foam-cleft path to the wave,
11Soul of the deep green gorge
13Builder of bastion tall,
14Hewn from the rose-red rock,
15Carver of mystical scrawl
16Cut in the jaspered block,
17Keeper of homes that lift
18Brown thatch to a bright blue sky,
19Lover of snows that sift
20Their glittering powder dry
21O'er clearing and farm and field--
22Guardian of garnered grain,
23Hope of the Empire, and shield,
24Heir of the prodigal plain.
Notes
3] brakes: bushes, thicket. Back to Line
5] immortelles: a flower that keeps its colour after drying. Back to Line
7] dells: hollows. Back to Line
12] lave: wash. Back to Line
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2011
Rhyme
Form