Tuesday 26 May 2009

An Eden Conception


A raindrop, unaccountably round,

plunges into Mallerstang;

Eden valley, Victorian dark,

the last great wilderness in England.

 

People come here briefly;

a monarch, a highwayman,

a thief, an earl, a tramp to see

 

rivers rise – the Ouse and Eden -

and if this raindrop falls an atom’s width

to the East, it runs to York;

a molecule West, Carlisle.

On and on, the future forks

and this drop will not travel both.

 

Race into a great valley;

ginger gorse: an undomesticated,

wild, wet second world, happy

 

when earth and wind decide

what’s right and left, that it’s worth

a surging newborn driving to

a source, a smash, a violent birth.

 


20 comments:

  1. I love this! And great title. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Dear Sir,
    Wonderful writing. Easy to follow and feel.
    Thanks for sharing your talent
    Byron Lehman (sometimes hack poet)
    www.lehmancafe.com

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  3. wonderful metaphysical elements twined with a map of newness. I am enjoying your poetry.

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  4. Nice... I quite love this one. Beautiful and right on time. Thank you.

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  5. This is one of my favorites. I like following the raindrop. Saw photos of the place, looks beautiful. Took the train through or close by once, but am sure it would have been dark when we passed through this area. If I was there, it was definitely briefly.

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  6. John, of course I would love this one - it's beautiful on so many levels.

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  7. Love the words.Really got into this one.Thanks j.

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  8. Beautiful metaphysical poem - love the imagery

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  9. Wonderfully done. It does have a hint of Milton inspiration.

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  10. How lovely ... layered like philo dough: images, conceptions, metaphysics ... just lovely. Thank you for writing and posting, John.

    Jamie Dedes

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  11. Beautiful. The line that reached out and grabbed me the most was "and this drop will not travel both" I had to stop and give space to all the thoughts that rushed into my head

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  12. Wandered over from Twitter.
    Love the imagery!

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  13. I love the last stanza John fantastic work and thanks for sharing.

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  14. Another classic! Keep up the good work!

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  15. Wonderful. Very evocative. Precise, almost surgical writing, but by no means devoid of emotional appeal. Intriguing.

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  16. I really enjoyed this poem. Perhaps you would consider submitting to Lunch at Giverny (lunchatgiverny.com). Coming from an Oriental background myself, I appreciate the nature images. Sometimes people fail to see, or make, the philosophical connections. you do it, it seems, instinctively.

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  17. I'm a man who is rarely interested poetry, so I felt compelled to tell you that I enjoyed this. Keep up the good work!

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  18. Lovely- fantacy n imagination meet within such a real n simplicity - softly touching.

    Cantik-gambaran dan khayalan bertemu dalam satu sentuhan yang nyata- lembut- bersahaja.

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  19. A poet's fancy always gives new insights. So does this beautiful poem.

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