I CHANCED upon a line of thought, a thin line
And traced its sinuous course from start to end ;
Knew its twists and turns and the fine
Thin thread of movement of my mind ;
Stumbled over, felt and saw the bricks
And mounds, stray wood and undergrowth, that lend
The traveller reason (cause his path to wind
About and about), a sinuous course to fix.
For one pale fainting second did I rest
Content, thinking on the progress won,
Then scurrying blindly back, I rushed,
Wild, half-mad, to where I had begun ;
Conscious of a something I had missed.
Again I traced the steps, slower still.
Heeding not the path, but suddenly wise,
With wrinkled brow, hand in hair and fist
Clenched with mental strain ; penetrating eyes
Sought the hidden soul of neighbouring things.
Feared, felt and understood the shadowy light
That dwells ‘neath trees, suggestive paths and ways,
Capillary thoughts, leading from the vein
Of meditation, whose pulse and course I traced . . .
Pools, flowers and little lissome ferns and slight
Scarce-heard messengers that float and laze
In fairy slothfulness, in visions placed
To move us with mocking amaze.
The journey recomplete, back I sprang, knowing
That about my head there swirled
A universe of thought, shocking
With its magnitude, the mind’s conceptive power
Across the sky a myriad stars it hurled,
Over reason’s ramparts flowing.
I heard a long silent voice that intoned
In guttural accents, faint and mocking,
The memories of some lost white world.
That brought Dead Eternities to flower ;
Writhing with mortality, – I moaned.
(Bernard Waters)
More Poetry from Bernard Waters:
Bernard Waters Poems based on Topics: Mind, Nature, World, Flowers, Memory, Thought & Thinking, Wisdom & Knowledge, Hair, Fairy, Leading & Managing, Contemplation- The End Of A Page (Bernard Waters Poems)
- Autumn, 1920 (Bernard Waters Poems)
- The Storm (Bernard Waters Poems)
- Recurrence (Bernard Waters Poems)
- Departure From The Old House (Bernard Waters Poems)
- Afterday (Bernard Waters Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: World Poems, Mind Poems, Nature Poems, Flowers Poems, Thought & Thinking Poems, Wisdom & Knowledge Poems, Hair Poems, Memory Poems, Fairy Poems, Contemplation Poems, Leading & Managing PoemsBased on Keywords: intoned, lissome, suggestive, undergrowth, scurrying, guttural, laze, half-mad, capillary, slothfulness, scarce-heard