Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, POEMS WRITTEN IN NORWAY IN 1899: 1. THE PENINSULA, by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

POEMS WRITTEN IN NORWAY IN 1899: 1. THE PENINSULA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The lilac ling my bed, I lay
Last Line: And turn the quavering birch-leaves cold.
Subject(s): Norway


THE lilac ling my bed, I lay
In that entranced half-isle of ours, --
That Sirmio of a northern bay,
Paven with tiny leaves and flowers; --
Ancestral birches down the blue
Their waterfalls of silver threw.

Between their gnarl'd and papery boughs
The radiant lake burned in the sun;
I looked out of their fairy house,
And watched the waves break one by one --
Reverberant turquoise shattered there
Between green earth and golden air.

Hot in the breeze, the distant pines
Cast wafts of spice across our shore;
And unseen rosemaries gave signs,
And secret junipers their store;
From every flower and herb and tree
Sabaean odours sighed to me.

And all things sang, too, -- the soft wind,
The birch-leaves' petulant, shy sound,
The lapping waters, and the thinned
Sleek tufts of autumn leafage browned,
The cow-bell far away, that fills
All corners of the folded hills.

Thus odour, song, and colour wrought
A magic raiment for my soul:
All the dark garments pain had brought
To robe me for the masque of dole
Fell from me straightway; I was clad
As angels when God makes them glad.

Blue, golden-green, and silver-white --
Were these not hues for happiness?
In our elysian island bright,
Round the worn pilgrim still they press;
They dress him for the world anew,
These spirits of white and green and blue.

And so for hours I laid my head
Upon the lilac spires of ling,
And thus, by Beauty islanded,
I heard the lustral waters sing,
And watched the low wind stir the gold
And turn the quavering birch-leaves cold.





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