The Way Through the Woods
They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods
Before they planted the trees.
It is underneath the coppice and heath,
And the thin anemones.
Only the keeper sees
That, where the ring-dove broods,
And the badgers roll at ease,
There was once a road through the woods.
Yet, if you enter the woods
Of a summer evening late,
When the night-air cools on the trout-ringed pools
Where the otter whistles his mate.
(They fear not men in the woods,
Because they see so few)
You will hear the beat of a horse’s feet,
And the swish of a skirt in the dew,
Steadily cantering through
The misty solitudes,
As though they perfectly knew
The old lost road through the woods. . . .
But there is no road through the woods.
(2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)Related posts:
- Woods in Winter When winter winds are piercing chill, And through the hawthorn blows the gale, With solemn feet I tread the hill, […]...
- Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village, though; He will not see me […]...
- Sonnet VII: Sweet Poet of the Woods Sweet poet of the woods – a long adieu! Farewel, soft minstrel of the early year! Ah! ’twill be long […]...
- I robbed the Woods I robbed the Woods The trusting Woods. The unsuspecting Trees Brought out their Burs and mosses My fantasy to please. […]...
- All Woods Must Fail O! Wanderers in the shadowed land Despair not! For though dark they stand, All woods there be must end at […]...
- September 1961 This is the year the old ones, The old great ones Leave us alone on the road. The road leads […]...
- Sonnet XXVI: Where Antique Woods Where antique woods o’er-hang the mountains’s crest, And mid-day glooms in solemn silence lour; Philosophy, go seek a lonely bow’r, […]...
- Yes, the Fish Music A trout-colored wind blows Through my eyes, through my fingers, And I remember how the trout Used to hide from […]...
- In The Seven Woods I have heard the pigeons of the Seven Woods Make their faint thunder, and the garden bees Hum in the […]...
- Late, Late, So Late Late, late, so late! and dark the night and chill! Late, late, so late! but we can enter still. Too […]...
- Alone In The Woods Alone in the woods I felt The bitter hostility of the sky and the trees Nature has taught her creatures […]...
- The Woods Entry So old is the wood, so old, Old as Fear. Wrinkled roots; great stems; hushed leaves; No sound near. Shadows […]...
- 157. Prologue, spoken by Mr. Woods at Edinburgh WHEN, by a generous Public’s kind acclaim, That dearest meed is granted-honest fame; Waen here your favour is the actor’s […]...
- How Robin and His Outlaws Lived in The Woods Robin and his merry men : Lived just like the birds; They had almost as many tracks as thoughts, : […]...
- The Lay of the Motor-Car We’re away! and the wind whistles shrewd In our whiskers and teeth; And the granite-like grey of the road Seems […]...
- The Toy Band A Song of the Great Retreat Dreary lay the long road, dreary lay the town, Lights out and never a […]...
- The shut-eye train Come, my little one, with me! There are wondrous sights to see As the evening shadows fall; In your pretty […]...
- Jazz Chick Music from her breast, vibrating Soundseared into burnished velvet. Silent hips deceiving fools. Rivulets of trickling ecstacy From the alabaster […]...
- The Woods At Night The binocular owl, Fastened to a limb Like a lantern All night long, Sees where all The other birds sleep: […]...
- "To-morrow to Fresh Woods and Pastures New" As for a moment he stands, in hardy masculine beauty, Poised on the fircrested rock, over the pool which below […]...
- The King of Yellow Butterflies (A Poem Game.) The King of Yellow Butterflies, The King of Yellow Butterflies, The King of Yellow Butterflies, Now orders […]...
- Prayer LET us leave our island woods grown dim and blue; O’er the waters creeping the pearl dust of the eve […]...
- The House In The Woods At the back of the houses there is the wood. While there is a leaf of summer left, the wood […]...
- Looking-Glass River Smooth it glides upon its travel, Here a wimple, there a gleam O the clean gravel! O the smooth stream! […]...
- Blazing in Gold and quenching in Purple Blazing in Gold and quenching in Purple Leaping like Leopards to the Sky Then at the feet of the old […]...
- Travelling on the thumb Travelling on the thumb, it wasn’t hard to do, you took The rides that you could get with no regrets […]...
- Small Frogs Killed On The Highway Still, I would leap too Into the light, If I had the chance. It is everything, the wet green stalk […]...
- The Boy Go, little boy, Fill thee with joy; For Time gives thee Unlicensed hours, To run in fields, And roll in […]...
- The Prince's Progress (excerpt) “Too late for love, too late for joy, Too late, too late! You loitered on the road too long, You […]...
- He Bids His Beloved Be At Peace I hear the Shadowy Horses, their long manes a-shake, Their hoofs heavy with tumult, their eyes glimmering white; The North […]...
- Lover's Gifts XLVII: The Road Is The road is my wedded companion. She speaks to me under my feet all Day, she sings to my dreams […]...
- The Voice Safe in the magic of my woods I lay, and watched the dying light. Faint in the pale high solitudes, […]...
- The Song of the Little Hunter Ere Mor the Peacock flutters, ere the Monkey People cry, Ere Chil the Kite swoops down a furlong sheer, Through […]...
- Four-Feet “THE WOMAN IN HIS LIFE” I have done mostly what most men do, And pushed it out of my mind; […]...
- The Road The road is thronged with women; soldiers pass And halt, but never see them; yet they’re here – A patient […]...
- Dave Lilly There’s a brook on the side of Greylock that used To be full of trout, But there’s nothing there now […]...
- Dirge in Woods A wind sways the pines, And below Not a breath of wild air; Still as the mosses that glow On […]...
- The Death King I hired a carpenter To build my coffin And last night I lay in it, Braced by a pillow, Sniffing […]...
- The Old Tin Hat In the good old days when the Army’s ways were simple and unrefined, With a stock to keep their chins […]...
- Woods I part the out thrusting branches And come in beneath The blessed and the blessing trees. Though I am silent […]...