Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE GOAT PATHS, by JAMES STEPHENS Recitation Poet's Biography First Line: The crooked paths / go every way Last Line: Of my mind. Subject(s): Goats; Solitude; Loneliness | ||||||||
(1) The crooked paths Go every way Upon the hill -- They wind about Through the heather, In and out Of a quiet Sunniness. And the goats, Day after day Stray In sunny quietness; Cropping here, And cropping there -- As they pause, And turn, And pass -- Now a bit Of heather spray, Now a mouthful Of the grass. (2) In the deeper Sunniness; In the place Where nothing stirs; Quietly In quietness; In the quiet Of the furze They stand a while; They dream; They lie; They stare Upon the roving sky. If you approach They run away! They will stare, And stamp, And bound, With a sudden angry sound, To the sunny Quietude: To crouch again, Where nothing stirs, In the quiet Of the furze. To crouch them down Again, And brood, In the sunny Solitude. (3) Were I but As free As they, I would stray Away And brood; I would beat A hidden way, Through the quiet Heather spray, To a sunny Solitude. And should you come I'd run away! I would make an angry sound, I would stare, And stamp, And bound To the deeper Quietude; To the place Where nothing stirs In the quiet Of the furze. (4) In that airy Quietness I would dream As long as they: Through the quiet Sunniness I would stray Away And brood, All among The heather spray In a sunny Solitude (5) -- I would think Until I found Something -- I can never find Something Lying On the ground, In the bottom Of my mind. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN ABEYANCE by DENISE LEVERTOV IN A VACANT HOUSE by PHILIP LEVINE SUNDAY ALONE IN A FIFTH FLOOR APARTMENT, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS by WILLIAM MATTHEWS SILENCE LIKE COOL SAND by PAT MORA THE HONEY BEAR by EILEEN MYLES |
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