ONCE IN THE WIND OF MORNING
by: A.E. Housman (1860-1936)
- NCE in the
wind of morning
- I ranged the thymy wold;
- The world-wide air was azure
- And all the brooks ran gold.
-
- There through the dews beside me
- Behold a youth that trod,
- With feathered cap on forehead,
- And poised a golden rod.
-
- With mien to match the morning
- And gay delightful guise
- And friendly brows and laughter
- He looked me in the eyes.
-
- Oh whence, I asked, and whither?
- He smiled and would not say,
- And looked at me and beckoned
- And laughed and led the way.
-
- And with kind looks and laughter
- And nought to say beside
- We two went on together,
- I and my happy guide.
-
- Across the glittering pastures
- And empty upland still
- And solitude of shepherds
- High in the folded hill,
-
- By hanging woods and hamlets
- That gaze through orchards down
- On many a windmill turning
- And far-discovered town,
-
- With gay regards of promise
- And sure unslackened stride
- And smiles and nothing spoken
- Led on my merry guide.
-
- By blowing realms of woodland
- With sunstruck vanes afield
- And cloud-led shadows sailing
- About the windy weald,
-
- By valley-guarded granges
- And silver waters wide,
- Content at heart I followed
- With my delightful guide.
-
- And like the cloudy shadows
- Across the country blown
- We two fare on for ever,
- But not we two alone.
-
- With the great gale we journey
- That breathes from gardens thinned,
- Borne in the drift of blossoms
- Whose petals throng the wind;
-
- Buoyed on the heaven-heard whisper
- Of dancing leaflets whirled
- From all the woods that autumn
- Bereaves in all the world.
-
- And midst the fluttering legion
- Of all the ever died
- I follow, and before us
- Goes the delightful guide,
-
- With lips that brim with laughter
- But never once respond,
- And feet that fly on feathers,
- And serpent-circled wand.
"Once in the wind of morning"
is reprinted from A Shropshire Lad. A.E. Housman. London:
Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1896. |
MORE POEMS BY A.E. HOUSMAN |
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