Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Poems by Katherine Mansfield

Waves

page 47

Waves

I saw a tiny God
Sitting
Under a bright blue Umbrella
That had white tassels
And forked ribs of gold.
Below him His little world
Lay open to the sun.
The shadow of His hat
Lay upon a city.
When he stretched forth His hand
A lake became a dark tremble.
When he kicked up His foot
It became night in the mountain passes.

But thou art small!
There are gods far greater than thou;
They rise and fall,
The tumbling gods of the sea.
Can thy heart heave such sighs,
Such hollow savage cries,
Such windy breath,
Such groaning death ?
And can thy arm enfold
The old,
The cold,
The changeless dreadful place
page 48 Where the herds
Of horned sea-monsters
And the screaming birds
Gather together.
From those silent men
That lie in the pen
Of our pearly prisons,
Canst thou hunt thy prey ?
Like us canst thou stay
Awaiting thine hour,
And then rise like a tower
And crash and shatter ?

There are neither trees nor bushes
In my country,
Said the tiny God.
But there are streams
And waterfalls
And mountain-peaks
Covered with lovely weed.
There are little shores and safe harbours,
Caves for cool and plains for sun and wind.
Lovely is the sound of the rivers,
Lovely the flashing brightness
Of the lovely peaks.
I am content.

page 49