Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A QUESTION, by JOHN COWPER POWYS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A QUESTION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What do I want of you? You fill
Last Line: I think the world hears my heart beat.
Subject(s): Blindness; Kisses; Love; Visually Handicapped


What do I want of you? You fill
The air about me with delight.
A power stronger than my will
Draws me towards you day and night.
And yet I do not ask to press
Even your hand in a caress.

Your presence vague and nebulous
Moves with me as I cross the street;
Your sweetness like an angelus
Makes holy ground beneath my feet.
In every lovely form I pass
You shape yourself as in a glass.

What do I want of you? I see
Your other lovers pine to drain
The passion of your ecstasy
In kisses desperate as rain,
And yet, although I am not blind,
Not to that harbour steers my mind.

What do I want of you? God knows!
I only know it is too high,
Too rare a venture to disclose,
Save to the vast and starless sky.
Nothing I want, yet when we meet,
I think the world hears my heart beat.





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