Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE TRAVELLER, by MARJORIE WEIRICH First Line: When I had thought a journey I would take Last Line: To book-fed dreams? Subject(s): Travel; Journeys; Trips | ||||||||
When I had thought a journey I would take, A map I bought me and pinned it straight Above the kitchen sink. That's all the travelling I have done these years. The map is England, poured on the blue Like batter from a novice bowl. This crusty, well-browned edge is Cornwall -- King Arthur, Tintagel, Penzance. "The foam of perilous seas" -- the suds That rainbow in my dishpan. A platter's huge side -- the cliffs of Albion. I've a child's mind stuffed with untidy reading. The scraps I cherish now to make a cloak For this life's nakedness. Gold Devon on the map, But the full palette and many mixtures do I need To make my Duchy. Soft red clay for the Southern shore. And blue-greens of the tropics for Torquay. Gold ribbons thread the purple of the moors, And northward rushing towards the Cymric coast Green cliffs wade hugely in a cobalt sea. Clovelly! Westward Ho! Sussex smiles in sunshine, or its lanes With Sheila's "coral-trousered Moon" make carnival. Green shoulders rest the head Made weary with the sea's monotonous croon. Drip, drip, drip. From the cold water tap. Tell me, can England ever prove untrue To book-fed dreams? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RICHARD, WHAT'S THAT NOISE? by RICHARD HOWARD LOOKING FOR THE GULF MOTEL by RICHARD BLANCO RIVERS INTO SEAS by LYNDA HULL DESTINATIONS by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN THE ONE WHO WAS DIFFERENT by RANDALL JARRELL THE CONFESSION OF ST. JIM-RALPH by DENIS JOHNSON SESTINA: TRAVEL NOTES by WELDON KEES TO H. B. (WITH A BOOK OF VERSE) by MAURICE BARING VERSES TO MR. C by ALEXANDER POPE |
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