This house has been far out at sea all night,
The woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills,
Winds stampeding the fields under the window
Floundering black astride and blinding wet
Till day rose; then under an orange sky
The hills had new places, and wind wielded
Blade-light, luminous black and emerald,
Flexing like the lens of a mad eye.
from Wind by Ted Hughes
Many thanks to my friend David for allowing me to use his gorgeous photograph of windblown grasses against a stormy sky to illustrate this poem.
Wind is one of the poems that I first came across in the collection Nine Modern Poets when studying for my ‘O’ Levels, and for some reason the line “Blade-light, luminous black and emerald” has stuck in my mind ever since. I thought of it immediately when I saw this photograph.
I hope you enjoy the poem David, and thanks again for providing the photo.
I so look forward to your choice of poem each Monday. It has become a little ritual for me to make my coffee and sit and read it. A perfect alignment of verse and image today 🙂