Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE DESERT, by MAXWELL STRUTHERS BURT Poet's Biography First Line: Out of the dark I called to you; out of the enfolding / dark you came Last Line: And only the wind that walks by dusk is over us, and god's grave will. Alternate Author Name(s): Burt, Struthers Subject(s): Deserts; Food & Eating; Love; Lust; Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations | ||||||||
OUT of the dark I called to you; out of the enfolding dark you came; And your coming was a light above far hills, when, star by star, the evening breaks to flame. A small wind stirred the hush that held the night; I felt the heat-wan desert flowers rejoice; And suddenly in hidden cañon clear, the laughter of a river's singing voice. O, swift your heart as desert wind at eve; and swift as desert wind the feet of you; And your cool hands are twilight after sun, when sago lilies lift their cups for dew. Fierce and cool, and fierce again the hours, dusk after blue and silence after light; And, sudden as the stopping of a heart, the fall of night. I could not know the mystery of you, silver as tall white lilies in the sand; I could not know you, fierce and cool and sweet, were not the desert here on either hand. Love in the crowd is laughter heard far off; a dream of following one beloved, forlorn, On a long road that never knows an end, where weary night awakes to weary morn. But here we are a woman and a man, stark, splendid, honest, stript of shame; So that our love burns bright and fierce as fire, when no wind stirs the flame. And I will kiss you in the hour of toil, when all our blood is sweet as sun- warmed wine; And I will kiss you when the dark is come, folding us close, your throbbing breast on mine. Cling to my lips, the desert night is here! Cling to my lips, the desert night is still! And only the wind that walks by dusk is over us, and God's grave will. | 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 TWENTY QUESTIONS by DAVID LEHMAN AMENDS by MAXWELL STRUTHERS BURT |
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