Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE BREATH OF LIGHT, by GEORGE WILLIAM RUSSELL Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: From the cool and dark-lipped furrows Last Line: Hail, forever, hail! Alternate Author Name(s): A. E. Variant Title(s): The Earth Breath Subject(s): Earth; World | ||||||||
FROM the cool and dark-lipped furrows Breathes a dim delight Through the woodland's purple plumage To the diamond night. Aureoles of joy encircle Every blade of grass Where the dew-fed creatures silent And enraptured pass. And the restless ploughman pauses, Turns and, wondering, Deep beneath his rustic habit Finds himself a king; For a fiery moment looking With the eyes of God Over fields a slave at morning Bowed him to the sod. Blind and dense with revelation Every moment flies, And unto the Mighty Mother, Gay, eternal, rise All the hopes we hold, the gladness, Dreams of things to be. One of all thy generations, Mother, hails to thee. Hail, and hail, and hail for ever, Though I turn again From thy joy unto the human Vestiture of pain. I, thy child who went forth radiant In the golden prime, Find thee still the mother-hearted Through my night in time; Find in thee the old enchantment There behind the veil Where the gods, my brothers, linger. Hail, forever, hail! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BROKEN BALANCE by ROBINSON JEFFERS SUBJECTED EARTH by ROBINSON JEFFERS GEOMETAPHYSICS by MARGARET AVISON NIAGARA by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS SOPHISTICATION by CONRAD AIKEN I SEE CHILE IN MY REARVIEW MIRROR by AGHA SHAHID ALI WASHING OUR HANDS OF THE REST OF AMERICA by MARVIN BELL THE EARTH IS A LIVING THING by LUCILLE CLIFTON A SUMMER NIGHT by GEORGE WILLIAM RUSSELL |
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