The Enkindled Spring
This spring as it comes bursts up in bonfires green,
Wild puffing of emerald trees, and flame-filled bushes,
Thorn-blossom lifting in wreaths of smoke between
Where the wood fumes up and the watery, flickering rushes.
I am amazed at this spring, this conflagration
Of green fires lit on the soil of the earth, this blaze
Of growing, and sparks that puff in wild gyration,
Faces of people streaming across my gaze.
And I, what fountain of fire am I among
This leaping combustion of spring? My spirit is tossed
About like a shadow buffeted in the throng
Of flames, a shadow that's gone astray, and is lost.
D.H. Lawrence
6 comments:
I hadn't read any of Lawrence's poetry before, Mike, so that was interesting (I confess I'm not much of a poetry lover). I particularly like the first picture. Thank God winter is over.
Shh, don't tempt fate, It's still only March...
Mike
Thanks, Mike, a vintage post. Didn't know this poem. We've just had an actual bonfire to celebrate the equinox and welcome spring. It's the third one we've had in as many weeks. I love a good bonfire and the weather has been so kind and dry recently that we've cleared lots of winter brash and rubbish. You can't beat a blazing pile of dry wood and leaves, ignited with a single match and no accelerants, of course. So the metaphor resonates particularly strongly at the moment.
The verse, combined with the most welcome return of one of your shadow images is delightful. Then, the second picture - those curling limbs, the blossom amongst the wreathing smoke, in front of the windows and alongside the railings and steps. It's all there!
Thanks, DM, much appreciated. Like Thomas Hardy, Lawrence is not well known to many as a poet, and in my view is a rather better poet than novelist [Discuss. You have three hours. Use both sides of the paper ...]
Mike
Hmm, until now, for me, poetic spring has mostly been:
"And the whole air struggling in soft excitements
Like a woman hurrying into her silks.
Birds everywhere zipping and unzipping
Changing their minds, in soft excitements,
Warming their wings and trying their voices."
Excellent,
"Over the whole land
Spring thunders down in brilliant silence."
Ted Hughes is pretty good, despite everything. [Discuss. You have three hours. Use both sides of the paper ...]
Mike
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