All in vain. I will cease now
My long absorption with the plough,
With the tame and the wild creatures
and man united with the earth.
I have failed after many seasons
In the mind’s precincts do not apply.
But where to turn? Earth endures
After the passing, necessary shame
Of winter, and the old lie
Of green places beckons me still
From the new world, ugly and evil,
That men pry for in truth’s name.
by R. S. Thomas
from Song at the Year’s Turning (1955)
All in vain. I will cease now
My long absorption with the plough,
With the tame and the wild creatures
And man united with the earth.
I have failed after many seasons
To bring truth to birth,
And nature’s simple equations
In the mind’s precincts do not apply.
But where to turn? Earth endures
After the passing, necessary shame
Of winter, and the old lie
Of green places beckons me still
From the new world, ugly and evil,
That men pry for in truth’s name.
by R. S. Thomas
from Song At The Year’s Turning (1955)
Rambling At The Bridge Head 