John Hall Wheelock Poems

'A sun, a shadow of a magnitude,'
So Keats has written- yet what, truly, could
Come closer to pure godhead than a sun,
...

I have been dying a long time
In this cool valley-land, this green bowl ringed by hills-
The cup of a giant flower whose petals are
...

The lightning flashed, and lifted
The lids of heaven apart,
The fiery thunder rolled you
All night long through my heart.
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The air is full of dawn and spring;
Outside the room I see
A swallow, like a shaft of light,
Shift sideways suddenly.
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Your body’s motion is like music;
Her stride ecstatical and bright
Moves to the rhythm of dumb music,
The unheard music of delight.
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Even as a hawk's in the large heaven's hollow
Are the great ways and gracious of your love,
No lesser heart or wearier wing may follow
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Light, that out of the west looked back once more
Through lids of cloud, has closed a sleepy eye;
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Give me your pitiful, soft hand, and lay
Your cheek against my shoulder, let your head
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The night is measureless, no voice, no cry,
Pierces the dark in which the planet swings --
It is the shadow of her bulk that flings
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Evening- and I, in the hour before sleep,
Lean out once more, and stare
Skyward, at you, bright star, deep, deep
...