Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE INDIAN UPON GOD, by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE INDIAN UPON GOD, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I passed along the water's edge below the humid trees
Last Line: His languid tail above us, lit wth myriad spots of light.
Alternate Author Name(s): Yeats, W. B.
Subject(s): God; Hinduism; Religion; Theology


I passed along the water's edge below the humid trees,
My spirit rocked in evening light, the rushes round my knees,
My spirit rocked in sleep and sighs; and saw the moorfowl pace
All dripping on a glassy slope, and saw them cease to chase
Each other round in circles, and heard the eldest speak:
Who holds the world between His bill and made us strong or weak
Is and undying moorfowl, and He lives beyond the sky.
The rains are from His dripping wing, the moonbeams from His eye.
I passed a little further on and heard a lotus talk:
Who made the world and ruleth it, He angeth on a stalk,
For I am in His image made, and all this tinkling tide
Is but a sliding drop of rain between His petals wide.
A little way within the gloom a roebuck raised his eyes
Brimful of starlight, and he said: The Stamper of the Skies,
He is a gentle roebuck; for how else, I pray, could He
Conceive a thing so sad and soft, a gentle thing like me?
I passed a little further on and heard a peacock say:
Who made the grass and made the worms and made my feathers gay,
He is a monstrous peacock, and He waveth all the night
His languid tail above us, lit wth myriad spots of light.




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