Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SONGS OF CREATION, by ZELLA MURIEL WRIGHT First Line: It is spring! Last Line: It has always seemed. Subject(s): Desire; Hearts; Love; Man-woman Relationships; Passion; Spring; Male-female Relations | ||||||||
Printemps: It is Spring! The tense earth waits For the impregnating seed; The trees droop, caressing the earth; The plowed fields drink up the rain With a sucking sound. The earth yearns for the impregnating seed; To feel it draw the nourishment Stored in her veins; To feel new life Stirring within her womb. I have builded a house on the hillside And the tang of the fresh-sawn pine Is still in the air; The fireplace is of lichened, igneous rock, And the couch is made Of the fragrant twig of the spruce. It is Spring And I have gone away from the abode of men That I might hear the song of the earth. All night I lay With my ear pressed close to the ground To catch the song. The quiet moon climbed up across the sky And glided behind a covert of young pines Beyond the cabin; The song of the frog calling his mate Came up from the glen below; But the tense earth moves not And is silent For her veins are bursting With the desire for fruitfulness. The birds will not sing tonight; Even the trees will not whisper their secret. I need the note of the violin To fill in the silence. You must come with your violin And pour out a song of passion and tenderness. Like the hot breath of a lover, Like his trembling touch, Your notes will wake the earth And set her heart to beating That I may catch the rhythm of it For my song. You will not mind if I do not speak to you. Come silently. You will find bread and a wedge of cheese In the cupboard, And a crock of fresh butter Under the rock by the spring. At dusk you will come And sit in the doorway While I lie upon the ground With my ear pressed close To catch the song of the All-Mother's heart. Et&233;: It is good to be loved. A man waits for me Who will cover my body with kisses; He will bury his face in my hair; He will weep with joy at the touch of me. It is good to be loved. I wait for you in the dusk. How strange you seem tonight! Your eyes glisten with a burnished light, Like the eyes of a serpent, Like the eyes of a god. Wherever your eyes are turned upon me My flesh burns As tho two hot coals were laid upon it; But I do not move. Why do you never take your eyes from me? Why do you tremble and grow so pale, You who were so radiant and rigid A moment ago? You touch me and drop weakly in a heap; There is no power in your muscles. But it is only the weakness before madness; A madness that gives you a ten-fold strength. For a second I shrink with fear, Lest in your ferocity, you devour me. Then I laughmy whole body laughs; But I move not. On my lips there is a faint smile, Shall I tell you why I smile? I smile because I am happy; Because this instant is my instant In this eternity of eternities. Tonight I understand that life is not The groping, broken, half-thing It has always seemed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MISERY AND SPLENDOR by ROBERT HASS THE APPLE TREES AT OLEMA by ROBERT HASS DOUBLE SONNET by ANTHONY HECHT CONDITIONS XXI by ESSEX HEMPHILL CALIFORNIA SORROW: MOUNTAIN VIEW by MARY KINZIE SUPERBIA: A TRIUMPH WITH NO TRAIN by MARY KINZIE COUNSEL TO UNREASON by LEONIE ADAMS |
|