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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE WHITE WOMEN, by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE Poet's Biography First Line: Where dwell the lovely, wild white women folk Last Line: And gazing died. Alternate Author Name(s): Anodos Subject(s): Amazons; Legends, Malayan; Women's Rights; Feminism | |||
WHERE dwell the lovely, wild white women folk, Mortal to man? They never bowed their necks beneath the yoke, They dwelt alone when the first morning broke And Time began. Taller are they than man, and very fair, Their cheeks are pale, At sight of them the tiger in his lair, The falcon hanging in the azure air, The eagles quail. The deadly shafts their nervous hands let fly Are stronger than our strongest -- in their form Larger, more beauteous, carved amazingly, And when they fight, the wild white women cry The war-cry of the storm. Their words are not as ours. If man might go Among the waves of Ocean when they break And hear them -- hear the language of the snow Falling on torrents -- he might also know The tongue they speak. Pure are they as the light; they never sinned, But when the rays of the eternal fire Kindle the West, their tresses they unbind And fling their girdles to the Western wind, Swept by desire. Lo, maidens to the maidens then are born, Strong children of the maidens and the breeze, Dreams are not -- in the glory of the morn, Seen through the gates of ivory and horn -- More fair than these. And none may find their dwelling. In the shade Primeval of the forest oaks they hide. One of our race, lost in an awful glade, Saw with his human eyes a wild white maid, And gazing died. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD HEMATITE HEIRLOOM LIVES ON (MAYBE DECEMBER 1980) by ALICE NOTLEY ON THE BEACH by CLARIBEL ALEGRIA FEMINIST POEM NUMBER ONE by ELIZABETH ALEXANDER HYPOCRITE SWIFT by LOUISE BOGAN FOR A GODCHILD, REGINA, ON THE OCCASION OF HER FIRST LOVE by TOI DERRICOTTE HESTER'S SONG by TOI DERRICOTTE WHERE A ROMAN VILLA STOOD, ABOVE FREIBURG' by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE |
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