Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WIND, by HAROLD VINAL


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WIND, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sway over the trees, wind, if you will, start them burning
Last Line: Hush your breath, the child is asleep in the womb.
Subject(s): Wind


Sway over the trees, wind, if you will, start them burning,
Toss the leaves up in the slanting meadows,
Sway over the breast of the unmoving water,
Break the bushes into thin lines of shadows.

Sway like a lover, wind, pinion the hill grass,
Under your strength, till it bear again,
Sway over the mountains, wind, let the hollows expand
Into wideness, let the torpid grass ache for the swell of the rain.

Beat, beat upon the heads of young lads riding to market,
Fan the faces of girls, toss their hair wild,
Blow the tansy to fragrance by the roadside,
Soothe the woman with child.

I know you wind, long ago you tore me,
Limb from limb, wind, wind at my heel;
I know what these lovers are aching and thirsting for,
I know what these twigs and these birds feel.

This is the time for sweethearts to go to the meadows,
Blow the twilight back over the springing land,
Blow the clover to redness where they wander,
These new lovers, hand in confident hand.

Tree to tree you move them, lovers and swallows,
You urge them to ripeness, you scorch them with your burning,
Till the buds burst from the ground and the prairie
Burns in the shun. Hush for the child is growing.
Hush for the child stirs, trembling and unknowing.

They shall defy you, these stalwart men and these women,
They shall defy you, these lovers that go to the fields now,
These young children running down to the water,
This fecund hill wearing a tree at its brow.

Wind, stop your running down the quickening orchard,
Stride no more over the hills, quiet your loom,
Blow the rain no longer along the house rafters, --
Hush your breath, the child is asleep in the womb.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net