Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WILLOW-SEEDS, by JOHN COWPER POWYS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WILLOW-SEEDS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Look! The seeds of a willow-tree
Last Line: Of more than mortal mysteries.
Subject(s): Fate; Grass; Life; Omens; Wandering & Wanderers; Willow Trees; Wind; Destiny


Look! The seeds of a willow-tree,
Falling on grass that must have grown
In this one spot for a thousand years!
The tossing wind like a gusty sea
Over the elder-bushes blown,
Over the hollow-foliaged elms,
With their orbed shadows in hemispheres,
What wild, strange thoughts it brings to me,
From what deep reluctant realms!

Can Fate itself remember the day
When I wandered here from some sea-shore?
I saw these elder-bushes, I saw
This lonely place -- that tree-trunk grey;
I saw the willow-seeds cover the grass --
The grass that has grown for a thousand years!
I saw the hollow-foliaged elms,
And then, as now, from reluctant realms,
Came thoughts that would not pass.

What lives we lead -- dear God, what lives!
What a palimpsest of double days
The Master of our journey gives!
Forever round our casual ways
Strange omens peer, strange portents wink;
And we stand darkly on the brink
Of more than mortal mysteries.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net