Willow Pollen 1

Willow Pollen 1

Willow Pollen

Author: Jeannette Augustus Marks

CONTENTS Page

 

PROEM 11

 

WILLOW POLLEN 13

 

YOU 14

 

CROSS ROADS 15

 

CALENDAR 16

 

WILD GRAPE VINE 19

 

TO SOME FLOWERS 21

 

STARS 22

 

GREEN GOLDEN DOOR 23

 

BREAD 24

 

OBSCURITY 26

 

BROWN MOTHER 30

 

SEA GULLS 32

 

DRAGON 33

 

THE WANDERER 34

 

BLIND SLEEP 35

 

THE BOWL 36

 

WHITE HAIR 39

 

CLEAR POOLS 40

 

THESE TWO 41

 

THE RAILROAD STATION 43

 

BUBBLES 44

 

PEDDLED JOY 45

 

WORK 46

 

SOMEWHERE TONIGHT 47

 

YOUR SUNLIT WAY 48

 

STRANGE FACES 49

 

EVERYWHERE 50

 

CLOUD 51

 

BUCENTAUR 52

 

MOTH 53

 

GRAY WATERS 54

 

JOURNEY’S END 55

 

WHITE PATHS 56

 

EBONY 57

 

TO SOME PHILADELPHIA SPARROWS 58

 

ORIOLE’S NEST 59

 

LITTLE MISS HILLY 60

 

ROSE TOADA 61

 

THATCH 62

 

SUN PATH 63

 

RAVELLO 64

 

CHESTER-ON-THE DEE 65

 

THE RIVER SEIONT 66

 

GOLD AND IVORY 67

 

STEPS 68

 

BESIDE THE WAY 69

 

WAIT AWHILE 70

 

INDIAN SUMMER 71

 

A THOUSAND YEARS 72

 

THE BROKEN DOOR 73

 

ONLY YOUR NAME 74

 

REPETENDS 75

 

TOO LATE 76

 

THE TIDE 77

 

DUST AND DREAMS 78

 

THE NEST 79

 

LOST LOVE 80

 

“WHEN SPRING” 81

 

TWO CANDLES 82

 

ROSY MILLER 84

 

HIS NAME 85

 

MIST 86

 

LAST DAWN 87

 

EVEN AS HERE 88

 

AGAIN? 90

 

 

 

 

WILLOW POLLEN

 

 

 

 

PROEM

 

 

_Beautiful she was to look upon_

_And beautiful to know,_

_And all who knew her loved her._

_There was none to whom she was not tender,_

_Compassionate in her word or her silence;_

_There was none of whom she did not think well._

 

_In a quiet room, my head upon her breast,_

_Often have I heard her heart beat,_

_Often have I listened to the voice of her heart,_

_And its speech was the speech of many sorrows._

_But of her own sorrows she spoke not;_

_She spoke only of the grief that came to her for healing;_

_And her speech was silence,_

_Murmur of wind,_

_Mute spaces of sky,--_

_These were her caresses and her healing,_

_And with silence and wind and sky she is now one,--_

_Not separate._

 

_She is gone._

_Remember her if you will!_

_For me she is still everywhere_

_And never to be forgotten!_

_Out of the dawn_

_The fringed lashes of blue gentians widen to her eyes;_

_Through the hot day_

_The shadow of her presence revolves upon me_

_As the cool finger on the sun dial;_

_In the afternoon_

_Shaken light burns in the memory of her hair;_

_And at evening_

_All my thoughts go fluttering, gray-winged, after her,_

_Till she gathers them in to the nest of her silence_

_And I am come back to my Mother_

_And to sleep._

 

 

 

 

WILLOW POLLEN

 

_Fleur de Lys on Lake Champlain, June 3, 1920_

 

 

The rain upon my roof is the rain of apple blossoms,

At my feet the water willows stand knee-deep in rushes;

A swaying mirror for the sun the lake swings and tips,

Spilling broken drowsy shadows and silver leaves.

In the willow pollen the bees hum;

In the apple bloom the bees hum;

Fluttering up like a begging hand

The ash tree twirls its mystic seven-fold leaf,

The thrush its song.

 

O beautiful world, what are you?

And who made you?

Are you no more than a fragrant dream,

A jewelled crust of loam for sun to shine upon,

A swaying mirror,

Willow pollen,

A twirling song,

A crumbling leaf?