Passion

Full of desire I lay, the sky wounding me, 

Each cloud a ship without me sailing, each tree 

Possessing what my soul lacked, tranquillity.

Waiting for the longed-for voice to speak 

Through the mute telephone, my body grew weak 

With the well-known and mortal death, heartbreak.

The language I knew best, my human speech 

Forsook my fingers, and out of reach 

Were Homer’s ghosts, the savage conches of the beach.

Then the sky spoke to me in language clear, 

familiar as the heart, than love more near. 

The sky said to my soul, "You have what you desire!

"Know now that you are born along with these 

clouds, winds, and stars, and ever-moving seas 

and forest dwellers. This your nature is.

"Lift up your heart again without fear, 

sleep in the tomb, or breathe the living air, 

this world you with the flower and with the tiger share".

Kathleen Raine

1908 - 2003