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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WALES VISITATION, by ALLEN GINSBERG Recitation by Author Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: White fog lifting & falling on mountain-brow Last Line: Upward in motion with wet wind Subject(s): Imagination; Vision; Wales; Fancy; Welshmen; Welshwomen | |||
White fog lifting & falling on mountain-brow Trees moving in rivers of wind The clouds arise as on a wave, gigantic eddy lifting mist above teeming ferns exquisitely swayed along a green crag glimpsed thru mullioned glass in valley raine- Bardic, O Self, Visitacione, tell naught but what seen by one man in a vale in Albion, of the folk, whose physical sciences end in Ecology, the wisdom of earthly relations, of mouths & eyes interknit ten centuries visible orchards of mind language manifest human, of the satanic thistle that raises its horned symmetry flowering above sister grass-daisies' pink tiny bloomlets angelic as lightbulbs- Remember 160 miles from London's symmetrical thorned tower & network of TV pictures flashing bearded your Self the lambs on the tree-nooked hillside this day bleating heard in Blake's old ear, & the silent thought of Wordsworth in eld Stillness clouds passing through skeleton arches of Tintern Abbey- Bard Nameless as the Vast, babble to Vastness! All the valley quivered, one extended motion, wind undulating on mossy hills a giant wash that sank white fog delicately down red runnels on the mountainside whose leaf-branch tendrils moved asway in granitic undertow down- and lifted the floating Nebulous upward, and lifted the arms of the trees and lifted the grasses an instant in balance and lifted the lambs to hold still and lifted the green of the hill, in one solemn wave A solid mass of Heaven, mist-infused, ebs thru the vale, a wavelet of Immensity, lapping gigantic through Llanthony Valley, the length of all England, valley upon valley under Heaven's ocean tonned with cloud-hang, #NAME? Roar of the mountain wind slow, sigh of the body, One Being on the mountainside stirring gently Exquisite scales trembling everywhere in balance, one motion thru the cloudy sky-floor shifting on the million feet of daisies one Majesty the motion that stirred wet grass quivering to the farthest tendril of white fog poured down through shivering flowers on themountain's head- No imperfection in the budded mountain, Valleys breathe, heaven and earth move together, daisies push inches of yellow air, vegetables tremble, grass shimmers green sheep speckle the mountainside, revolving their jaws with empty eyes, horses dance in the warm rain, tree-lined canals network live farmland, blueberries fringe stone walls on hawthorn'd hills, pheasants croak on meadows haired with fern- Out, out on the hillside, into the ocean sound, into delicate gusts of wet air, Fall on the ground, O great Wetness, O Mother, No harm on your body! Stare close, no imperfection in the grass, each flower Buddha-eye, repeating the story, myriad-formed- Kneel before the foxglove raising green buds, mauve bells drooped doubled down the stem trembling antennae, & look in the eyes of the branded lambs that stare breathing stockstill under dripping hawthorn- I lay down mixing my beardwith the wet hair of the mountainside, smelling the brown vagina-moist ground, harmless, tasting the violet thistle-hair, sweetness- One being so balanced, so vast, that its softest breath moves every floweret in the stillness of thevalley floor, trembles lamb-hair hung gossamer rain-beaded in the grass, lifts trees on their roots, birds in the great draught hiding their strength in the rain, bearing same weight, Groan thru breast and neck, a great Oh! to earth heart Calling our Prescence together The great secret is no secret Senses fit the winds, Visible is visible, rain-mist curtains wave through the bearded vale, gray atoms wet the wind's kabbala Crosslegged on a rock in dusk rain, rubber booted in soft grass, mind moveless, breath trembles in white daisies by the roadside, Heaven breath and my own symmetric Airs wavering thru antlered green fern drawn in my navel, same breath as breathes thru Capel-Y-Ffn, Sounds of Aleph and Aum through forests of gristle, my skull and Lord Hereford's Knob equal, All Albion one. What did I notice? Particulars! The vision of the great One is myriad- smoke curls upward from ashtray, house fire burned low, The night, still wet & moody black heaven starless upward in motion with wet wind. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ANTICHRIST, OR THE REUNION OF CHRISTENDOM; AN ODE by GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON WELSH INCIDENT by ROBERT RANKE GRAVES THE BARD; A PINDARIC ODE by THOMAS GRAY THE TRIUMPHS OF OWEN: A FRAGMENT by THOMAS GRAY WELSH LANDSCAPE by RONALD STUART THOMAS WRITTEN ON A BRIDGE by ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH |
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