Poetry Friday - 16
Yesterday saw the birthday of the late Laurie Lee, one of the few people ever to become a legend in his own lifetime - and one of the few people to make my hometown of Stroud famous. He's probably best known for his autobiographical Cider With Rosie, but he also wrote poetry such as this:
April Rise
If ever I saw blessing in the air
I see it now in this still early day
Where lemon-green the vaporous morning drips
Wet sunlight on the powder of my eye.
[...]
Pure in the haze the emerald sun dilates,
The lips of sparrows milk the mossy stones,
While white as water by the lake a girl
Swims her green hand among the gathered swans.
Now, as the almond burns its smoking wick,
Dropping small flames to light the candled grass;
Now, as my low blood scales its second chance,
If ever world were blessed, now it is.
You can find the whole poem here.
This week's Poetry Friday round-up is over at Biblio File.
6 comments:
His turns of phrase always take me awhile to read through -- the 'powder of my eye,' the 'candled grass' -- Lovely!
Aren't they just lovely?
Loved this line from the second verse, possibly because it's been so hot and humid here of late:
. . . all the world
Sweats with the bead of summer in its bud.
It's a gorgeous line - but I find much of his poetry gorgeous...
When we lived in Manchester, we spent many weekends in Woodmancote. It was a glorious spring and early summer-- this poem captures that so well.
Thank you.
You're welcome. I'm glad that you enjoyed it.
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