Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE TRAVELLER, by MARJORIE WEIRICH



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE TRAVELLER, by                    
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...



Home: PoetryExplorer.net