Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LIGHTNING, by DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I felt the lurch and halt of her heart Last Line: Home, come home, the lightning has made it too plain! Alternate Author Name(s): Lawrence, D. H. Subject(s): Lightning; Love; Lightning Rods | ||||||||
I felt the lurch and halt of her heart Next my breast, where my own heart was beating; And I laughed to feel it plunge and bound, And strange in my blood-swept ears was the sound Of the words I kept repeating, Repeating with tightened arms, and the hot blood's blindfold art. Her breath flew warm against my neck, Warm as a flame in the close night air; And the sense of her clinging flesh was sweet Where her arms and my neck's thick pulse could meet. Holding her thus, could I care That the black night hid her from me, blotted out every speck? I leaned in the darkness to find her lips And claim her utterly in a kiss, When the lightning flew across her face And I saw her for the flaring space Of a second, like snow that slips From a roof, inert with death, weeping "Not this! Not this!" A moment there, like snow in the dark Her face lay pale against my breast, Pale love lost in a thaw of fear And melted in an icy tear, And open lips, distressed; A moment; then darkness shut the lid of the sacred ark. And I heard the thunder, and felt the rain, And my arms fell loose, and I was dumb. Almost I hated her, sacrificed; Hated myself, and the place, and the iced Rain that burnt on my rage; saying: Come Home, come home, the lightning has made it too plain! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BOLT FROM THE BLUE by GREGORY ORR THE YOUNG MYSTIC by LOUIS UNTERMEYER POSTSCRIPT; TO MAXIME KUMIN by ELEANOR WILNER THE BOOK OF THE DEAD MAN (#13): 2. MORE ABOUT THE DEAD MAN AND THUNDER by MARVIN BELL EPITAPH by MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU THE IMPROVISATORE: ALBERT AND EMILY by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES LIGHTNING by WILLIAM ROSE BENET SHEET LIGHTNING by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE SCYTHE STRUCK BY LIGHTING by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN A BABY ASLEEP AFTER PAIN by DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE |
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