| George William (“A. E.”) Russell (1867–1935). Collected Poems by A.E. 1913. |
| |
| 30. The Earth Breath |
| |
| |
| FROM the cool and dark-lipped furrows | |
| Breathes a dim delight | |
| Through the woodland’s purple plumage | |
| To the diamond night. | |
| Aureoles of joy encircle | 5 |
| Every blade of grass | |
| Where the dew-fed creatures silent | |
| And enraptured pass. | |
| And the restless ploughman pauses, | |
| Turns and, wondering, | 10 |
| Deep beneath his rustic habit | |
| Finds himself a king; | |
| For a fiery moment looking | |
| With the eyes of God | |
| Over fields a slave at morning | 15 |
| Bowed him to the sod. | |
| Blind and dense with revelation | |
| Every moment flies, | |
| And unto the Mighty Mother, | |
| Gay, eternal, rise | 20 |
| All the hopes we hold, the gladness, | |
| Dreams of things to be. | |
| One of all thy generations, | |
| Mother, hails to thee. | |
| Hail, and hail, and hail for ever, | 25 |
| Though I turn again | |
| From thy joy unto the human | |
| Vestiture of pain. | |
| I, thy child who went forth radiant | |
| In the golden prime, | 30 |
| Find thee still the mother-hearted | |
| Through my night in time; | |
| Find in thee the old enchantment | |
| There behind the veil | |
| Where the gods, my brothers, linger. | 35 |
| Hail, forever, hail! | |
| |
|
|
|
