Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HYMN TO LIGHT, by EDWARD JOSEPH HARRINGTON O'BRIEN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HYMN TO LIGHT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Wind-loving daughter of eternal day
Last Line: The flowers of april blow
Subject(s): April; Day


Wind-loving daughter of eternal day,
Flooding the sky from urns of starry fire
To leap upon the altar of our clay
And rouse the curled flame of our desire,
O Thou, whose liquid element hath power
To colour dreaming grasses with thy prayer
And curve the petals of an April flower,
Be unto us the passion of our air.
Thou turnest flesh to flowers and earth to flame.
Now, in thy name,
We shape the dust of stars into a song,
For thou art strong.

Here, where the glancing memory of the leaves
Stirred by a windless longing, dropping white,
Patterns the tranced music midnight weaves
Under the vanished boughs of April night,
And where the violet-haunted pasture sleeps
Drowsy with fragrance, be the gentle guide
Of mystery-laden flocks the hillside keeps
Sheltered beneath thy wonder-flooding tide.
Thou leadest earth and wind and water home,
The swallow to the nest.
Open our shadow-path across the foam
Into the west.

Or, 'neath the tented majesty of air
That wraps the golden body of the sun,
Scatter thy robes and rise, divinely fair,
Under the spreading arch of clouds that run.
Foam-flanked, and streaming in the molten east,
Come to us over the waters, breasting day.
The Bridegroom calls thee to the wedding feast.
Come with us, naked, over the fields away.
The morning stars are ringing in the sky,
The morning lark below.
Shoulder the hill with us, the wind laughs high,
The flowers of April blow





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