The Helmsman (by H.D.)

Click this photo to read Jesus Crisis' blog about Hilda Doolittle (includes two more poems)
H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) in the 1910s

The Helmsman
[from Sea Garden, 1916]

O be swift—
we have always known you wanted us.

We fled inland with our flocks.
we pastured them in hollows,
cut off from the wind
and the salt track of the marsh. 
 
We worshipped inland—
we stepped past wood-flowers,
we forgot your tang,
we brushed wood-grass. 
 
We wandered from pine-hills
through oak and scrub-oak tangles,
we broke hyssop and bramble.
we caught flower and new bramble-fruit
in our hair: we laughed
as each branch whipped back,
we tore our feet in half-buried rocks
and knotted roots and acorn-cups. 
 
We forgot—we worshipped,
we parted green from green.
we sought further thickets,
we dipped our ankles
through leaf-mould and earth.
and wood and wood-bank enchanted us— 
 
and the feel of the clefts in the bark,
and the slope between tree and tree—
and a slender path strung field to field
and wood to wood
and hill to hill
and the forest after it. 
 
We forgot—for a moment
tree-resin, tree-bark,
sweat of a torn branch
were sweet to taste.

We were enchanted with the fields,
the tufts of coarse grass
in the shorter grass—
we loved all this. 
 
But now, our boat climbs—hesitates—drops—
climbs—hesitates—crawls back—
climbs—hesitates—
O be swift—
we have always known you wanted us.


* * *

To see an index of other H.D. works in the Crisis Chronicles Online Library, click:
http://library.crisischronicles.com/categories/Doolittle%20(Hilda).aspx

We also recommend these volumes from Amazon:

   

 
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Comments

  • 6/26/2009 2:02 PM chris wrote:
    This is really beautiful...

    People wrote different poetry a hundred years ago though.

    If she submitted today... do you think they would be accepting of it? The style is so different what people write today.. even though it's very good.

    Just wondering to myself as well as asking you what you think..
    Reply to this
  • 6/26/2009 3:40 PM Donnie wrote:
    Such a beautiful poem. When you stand back and realise the great poetry of the world, it's so amazing. to the great
    poets of the world. living and dead
    Reply to this
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