Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONG OF THE WAITING LAND, by ELLEN COIT ELLIOTT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONG OF THE WAITING LAND, by                    
First Line: East wind, blowing
Last Line: Dreaming the dream the star showed me.
Subject(s): Seeds; West (u.s.); Southwest; Pacific States


I

East wind, blowing,
Blow seed to me;
Here I lie, broad to the sky,
Fain to the rain,
Fallow, fallow from sea to sea.
Come to my sowing, shadowy Sower,
Seed, seed, O east-wind, blowing!

Out to the horizons my jocund prairies run;
Etched in ebony and silver,
My sierras in the moonlight
Lift above the valleys that cup the morning sun;
Splendidly my rivers flow,
Tall and dark my forests grow.

I am that Beauty who wakes
When the pre-destined breaks
Through the thorn thicket and takes
Strongly his own;
The land of heart's desire,
Who wins me frost and fire
And the death of his desire
Must face alone.
Here I lie, broad to the sky;
When shall the seed be sown?
Hard and brown it must be husked,
In winter it must be set.
Cold must bite its yearning root,
Storm must tear its springing shoot;
And it must bear, O shadowy Sower,
For I must have, O wind,
Old loves and beauties,
Ancient duties,
Faiths and hopes and memories
From the treasuries of mankind.
Frankincense and beaten gold,
These the seed must hold;
Cinnamon and nard,
These the seed must guard;
Fleet foot, strong hand, white wing,
These from the seed must spring.
Then, O Sower, O wind, O star,
What a bourgeoning!

II

"Hark!" said John Robinson, "Hark"
"A call in the dark!"
Only the sea-wind's roar . .
Off shore.
"A star in the west! A star
To guide us far!"
Only familiar Hesperus
Looks down at us.

The Sower, the Sower went forth to sow.
The ship is ready, the people must go;
The people kneel on the friendly shore
And weep for the homes they'll see no more.
Sped by the wind,
The Mayflower fled on the track designed.
And the Sower, the Sower went forth to sow.
In a wintry bay of the waiting land
Came to anchor the sorry band;
In a frozen earth the seed lay down,
Wrapped in its coat of bitter brown.
Is this the seed to thrust and break
Through ice and flame!
It dies, O Sower, it cannot wake,
It dies in shame.

III

Hark; a song in the dark!
A vision, O Sower, the western star
Pricked in the night where the Milky Way
Skeins across the blue-black flower,
And the east-wind blew in my eyes
Dust of worlds to make me wise.
The seed was small and brown,
In the frost the seed lay down;
The husk was hard, O Shadowy Sower, --
Gorgeous spread the silken flower.

Tall as pines from the mountain side,
I saw men stride through the wilderness,
And my forests fell to the axe's ring.
My great, free rivers they broke
To the yoke of their mills;
They subdued the wild hills
To pasture; they conquered the plain to grain.
Strongly they broke, sternly they spoke:
Freedom and holiness, there in the wilderness,
Wrested from hardship and pain.

On swept the pine-like men,
Led by the western star;
Over the mountains strode,
Over the deserts rode,
Winged far and tireless --
Earth for their taking,
Heaven for their making.
Oh the cities that bloomed on the prairies!
Oh the towers that rose by the sea!
Oh the bridges that leaped o'er the waters,
And the bright threads of lightning for the spirit swung free!
"Freedom and power and pleasure," they cried,
"Freedom and power and pride!"

The pastured hills they drilled for treasure,
Palaces reared for pride;
Shops they set to bargain in pleaasure;
They sold their peace, they sold their leisure,
And bought them feathers and finger rings
And a stew of red lentils beside.
"Freedom and power and self!" they cried.
"And pelf!" they cried.
This I saw in my starry dream,
And then,
Over those jubilant men
Faintness and weariness came.
They slept, and I saw giants bind them
Thrice three times, with hands behind them,
Round and round, while they slept sound,
With webs of silk and gems;
Silver pins caught them in;
Braided ropes of steel and gold,
Padded soft with fold on fold
Of broidered shroud,
Held them bound.

So they lay for a time and a time.
Then, on a day, they woke with a shout;
Stern again, hard, they broke with a shout
The gemmy web, the accurst strands
Of gold and steel they burst;
Hands austere and strong
Rent the broidered shroud;
Loud they shouted a song:
"Holiness, freedom and love!
Holiness, freedom and love!"

This is the song in the dark.
Fainter it grows in the dark, O Sower,
The vision fades that the star showed me.
Yet, hark!
"Holiness, freedom and love --
Holiness, freedom and love!"
And I lie fallow from sea to sea,
Dreaming the dream the star showed me.





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