White Irises

But when it came to holding fast
All my heaped days as water went,
High in swirling dreams I stood,
With vain hands clutched the slipping past
Of straws and faces on the flood.
Till single among stones I saw
The white, the ragged irises,
Cold on a sky of petals dead,
Their young cheeks roughened in the wind,
Boys.white-surpliced boys
Cold boys of spring, the irises
With parted lips stood chanting there,
The green flood restive to their knees,
Rain powdered on their hair
And I who sought for heart’s farewell,
In dusk of spring, have brought you these -
The choir singing in a spell,
The white, the ragged irises.

Over their feet the spring tide bore
High bellows flecked with daisied foam.
I saw the wind, a swimmer, pass
From grey-girt isles of cloud, his home,
And mount the blue stockades of trees.
O then a singing on the air,
Caught and flung back and held again,
Curled in the rosy shells of rain
And pressed against earth’s listening ear
Took up the triumph-strain.
Cold boys of spring, the irises
With parted lips stood chanting there,
The green flood restive to their knees,
Rain powdered on their hair.
Until a red moon dipped shoulder-high,
A lantern swinging from the pole
Of some old fisher of the sky
In starry waters of the soul.
And I who sought for heart’s farewell,
In dusk of spring, have brought you these -
Irises white irises.

All lyrics are provided for informational and educational purposes only. Lyrics are subject to all international copyright laws and remain the property of their respective owners.

Back to Lyrics