The Moor by R. S. Thomas

[dragonyphoenix]

Found this on Poetry Chaikhana. It's too beautiful to keep to myself.


The Moor by R. S. Thomas

It was like a church to me.
I entered it on soft foot,
Breath held like a cap in the hand.
It was quiet.
What God was there made himself felt,
Not listened to, in clean colours
That brought a moistening of the eye,
In movement of the wind over grass.

There were no prayers said. But stillness
Of the heart's passions -- that was praise
Enough; and the mind's cession
Of its kingdom. I walked on,
Simple and poor, while the air crumbled
And broke on me generously as bread.

Comments

[diebirchen.livejournal.com]

Lovely. I like many short poems such as "Vitae Summa Brevis" by Ernest Dowson.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly new to reading poetry and hadn't heard of Dowson but you're right, that is a beautiful poem. Thanks so much for sharing it.

And as I was reading down I found "To One in Bedlam", which starts out "With delicate made hands." That's the title of a story by James Tiptree, Jr. and I'd never known where that title came from before. I'm so happy to have found that out. ;-)

[diebirchen.livejournal.com]

So many pieces of literature have as their titles quotes from something else: Steinbeck's "The Winter of Our Discontent" from a speech in Shakespeare's "Richard III," for example. If you're new to poetry and want to read something longer, how 'bout "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot?

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure, let's just jump to the hard ones. Actually have read it but I preferred The Wasteland.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Oh, and since we seem to be swapping poems, have you read September, 1961 (http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/september-1961/) by Denise Levertov?

[diebirchen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but you gotta love, "I grow old . . . I grow old . . . I shall wear my trouser bottoms rolled."

[diebirchen.livejournal.com]

Niiiiiice! How 'bout "Brown Penny by W. B. Yeats?

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Oooh, you're right. Perhaps I should have read that poem more closely.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Yep, impressive images. Night in Day (http://dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com/49896.html) by Joseph Stroud.

[diebirchen.livejournal.com]

"Ink runs from the corners of my mouth. There is no happiness like mine. I have been eating poetry." By Mark Strand.

The Stroud poem is wonderful.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is amazing. And thanks, Night in Day is one of my favorite poems, if not my absolute favorite.

And another poem about poetry: Introduction to Poetry (http://dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com/50971.html) by Billy Collins

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Blood's a Rover, which is what Harlan Ellison once said the sequel to A Boy and His Dog, would be called, is a line from A. E. Housman's "Reveille".

[diebirchen.livejournal.com]

Sci-fi too: "I Sing the Body Electric" by Ray Bradbury from "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman. I love the poesm of Housman!

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I've only read a couple; they're in a book of poetry I have. "Reveille", obviously since I referred to it, and "When I was young and twenty". I think "Reveille" was the first poem where I saw a line and matched it to a title I knew; I was totally thrilled!

[diebirchen.livejournal.com]

Read Housman's "To an Athlete Dying young," "The lovliest of trees, the cherry now," and "A Shropshire Lad." Great stuff.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Nice.

Oh, I was mistaken earlier. I read "Lovlies of trees, the cherry now" in my writing class. That's a beautiful one.