Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE FIRST SPRING DAY IN LONDON by ANNIE MATHESON

First Line: ON RAINBOW-RIFTED CLOUDS, / ON DINGY-HEARTED CROWDS
Last Line: ETERNAL LIFE, SETS FREE EARTH'S SPELL-BOUND THRALLS.
Subject(s): LONDON; LOVE; SPRING;

ON rainbow-rifted clouds,
On dingy-hearted crowds,
On London roofs and on the dusky river,
Apollo scatters from his heavenly quiver
New light and song:
In human souls our cold estrangements sever,
His breath, that is the breath of God for ever,
Undoes the wrong,
And stirs the winter-frozen love that never
Was heir of death, yet dreamed of death so long:
Sweet arrows shiver
Through sacred dust, to make the inmate strong.

On grimy window-sills,
Celestial sunshine thrills
Awaking snowdrops, and is softly stealing
Through smoky panes to bless the folk with healing.
Around Saint Paul's,
Now iris-bosomed birds, in love excelling,
Are cooing; and in many a stricken dwelling,
On prisoning walls,
A gleam of God, of wondrous worlds foretelling
That know not space nor time, a moment falls,
And life, revealing
Eternal life, sets free earth's spell-bound thralls.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net