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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BEYOND, by JOHN FREEMAN Poet's Biography
First Line: What trees were they? Their roots were
Last Line: Moves there without disaster—while time's cloud fades on high.
Subject(s): Nature; Thought; Thinking
First Line: What trees were they? Their roots were
Last Line: Moves there without disaster—while time's cloud fades on high.
Subject(s): Nature; Thought; Thinking
WHAT trees were they? Their roots were wrapt around the mountain,
Their falling branches made a fountain, pouring light into the sky.
Their branches made a wind and caught the clouds that hung delaying
And knelt like pilgrims praying, then, rising, soared on high.
What waters were they? Strange, I could not see them falling
But heard them shaking, calling, down the broken heights of sky.
Halos upsprang above and shaped, unshaped and faded,
And clouds brightened and shaded as the waters fell from high.
What roofs were they? Within the showering green uplifted
Strong towers thrust and rifted and shouldered towards the sky—
Fortress towers or palace or holy temple everlasting,
Their wing-like strength upcasting to an unseen tower on high.
What land was that, what city? Proud, lofty and green-steepled,
Why hung it there unpeopled, with no sound 'neath all the sky
But wind and leaves and fountains? What voices there were muted,
What generations rooted, with blind lids fixed on high?
The senses cannot reach there; bold sight, intoxicated hearing,
Nor touch with delicate daring—they crawl abashed beneath the sky.
But the heart that's purged of sense and fear—the senses' master—
Moves there without disaster—while Time's cloud fades on high.
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