Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PASSING OF A ZEPHYR, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PASSING OF A ZEPHYR, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Up from, and out of, and over the
Last Line: Of amiable calm.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Forests; Spring; Wind; Woods


UP from, and out of, and over the opulent woods and the plains,
Lo! I leap nakedly loose, as the nudest of gods might choose,
For to dash me away through the morning dews
And the rathe Spring rains --
Pat and pet the little green leaves of the trees and the grass,
Till they seem to linger and cling, as I pass,
And are touched to delicate contemporaneous tears of the rain and the
dew,
That lure mine eyes to weeping likewise, and to laughter, too:
For I am become as the balmiest, stormiest zephyr of Spring,
With manifold beads of the marvelous dew and the rain to string
On the bended strands of the blossoms, blown
And tossed and tousled and overthrown,
And shifted and whirled, and lifted unfurled
In the victory of the blossoming
Of the flags of the flowery world.
Yea, and behold! and a riotous zephyr, at last,
I subside; I abate; I pass by; I am past.
And the small, hoarse bass of the bumblebee
Is my requiem-psalm,
And I fling me down to a listless, loitering, long eternity
Of amiable calm.





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