Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WEST WIND, by WILLIAM STEWARD GORDON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WEST WIND, by                    
First Line: When but a boy with eager ears
Last Line: When the balmy west winds blow.
Subject(s): Nature; Wind


When but a boy with eager ears
The winds would talk to me;
They told me tales of mountain meres
And stories of the sea.

The North Wind is Boreas' breath—
He scuds across the plain,
And howls in hurricanes of death
And winding-sheets of rain.

The East Wind tells of sage and sand
And coyotes in a pack—
Of whirling cyclones in his hand,
And havoc in his track.

But the West Wind is a pirate bold;
She robs the sea and sings
Of dewdrops rich as yellow gold—
She bears them on her wings,

And pours them out so full and free
That baby streamlets grow;
And so without the wind you see
The rivers could not flow.

Her silken wings now fan my face,
And perfume shed the while
Fresh from Pacific's fond embrace
And sweet Hawaii's isle.

She knows where Arabs pitch their tent
And dolphins swim the sea,
The secrets of the Orient,
And Neptune's mystery.

The South Wind brings the heat and dust,
The North Wind brings the snow,
But Nature sings, for sing she must,
When the balmy West Winds blow.





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