Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Spell of Creation

This is for my dear belle-soeur, Andy, who first walked into our lives and our hearts as a luminously lovely 18 year old, and is as beautiful and as well loved now as then. Wishing you a safe return, and get well soon. (Sorry the poem's not home-made, I didn't have anything good enough, but the pictures are...)

Spell of Creation by Kathleen Raine
Within the flower there lies a seed,
Within the seed there springs a tree,
Within the tree there spreads a wood.
In the wood there burns a fire,
And in the fire there melts a stone,
Within the stone a ring of iron.
Within the ring there lies an O,
Within the O there looks an eye,
In the eye there swims a sea.

And in that sea reflected sky,
And in the sky there shines the sun,
Within the sun a bird of gold.

Within the bird there beats a heart,
And from the heart there flows a song,
And in that song there sings a word.
In the word there speaks a world,
A word of joy, a world of grief,
From joy and grief there springs my love.

Oh love, my love, there springs a world,
And on the world there shines a sun,
And in the sun there burns a fire,
Within the fire consumes my heart
And in my heart there beats a bird,
And in the bird there wakes an eye,

Within the eye, earth, sea and sky,
Earth, sky and sea within an O
Lie like the seed within the flower.

( Apologies if any copyright infringed. For more on Kathleen Raine and her legacy, go to www.temenosacademy.org . Also credit due to Tom, who took the 5th and 6th of the above pictures.)


4 comments:

Diane Dehler said...

I enjoy the poetry of Kathleen Raine also and her book of criticism, "The Inner Journey of the Poet." -Interesting blog.

Marly Youmans said...

My daughter memorized that poem in 5th grade, and still remembers it with great fondness. I love Raine (first discovered by reading Tom Disch's The Castle of Indolence) and cherish my copy of her "complete" poems.

I also adore Hopkins, and you obviously like him, too.

French Fancy... said...

Beautiful pictures to the words

Anonymous said...

On Radio 4 Poetry Please(Sun 26th Oct 4:30pm & Sat 1st Nov 11:30pm) will broadcast Spell Of Creation by Kathleen Raine.

Alternatively you can Listen Again:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml