Dawn Wind
Wind, just arisen--(Off what cool mattress of marsh-mossIn tented boughs leaf-drawn before the stars,Or niche of cliff under the eagles?)You of living things,So gay and tender and full of play--Why do you blow on my thoughts--like cut flowersGathered and laid to dry on this paper, rolled out of dead wood?
I see youShaking that flower at me with soft invitationAnd frisking away,Deliciously rumpling the grass...
So you fluttered the curtains about my cradle,Prattling of fieldsBefore I had had my milk...Did I stir on my pillow, making to follow you, Fleet One?I--swaddled, unwinged, like a bird in the egg.
Let beMy dreams that crackle under your breath...You have the dust of the world to blow on...Do not tag me and dance away, looking back...I am too old to play with you,Eternal Child.
Words in this poem
- mattress n.
- A quilted bed; a bed stuffed with hair, moss, or other suitable material, and quilted or otherwise fastened. [OF. materas, F. matelas, LL. matratium; cf. Sp. & Pg. almadraque, Pr. almatrac; all from Ar. matsrah a place where anything is thrown, what is thrown under some]
- tented a.
- Covered with tents.
- deliciously adv.
- Delightfully; as, to feed deliciously; to be deliciously entertained.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dawn Wind is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Ghetto, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #4332; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lola Ridge, Dawn Wind, in The Ghetto, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4332, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/ridge-ghetto/dawn-wind.html, id L20899.
Form and metre
Dawn Wind is 23 lines in 4 stanzas.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Wind, just arisen-- | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| (Off what cool mattress of marsh-moss | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In tented boughs leaf-drawn before the stars, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Or niche of cliff under the eagles?) | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| You of living things, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| So gay and tender and full of play-- | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Why do you blow on my thoughts--like cut flowers | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Gathered and laid to dry on this paper, rolled out of dead wood? | 15 | /˘······/˘····· |
| I see you | 3 | ··· |
| Shaking that flower at me with soft invitation | 13 | /˘·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| And frisking away, | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| Deliciously rumpling the grass... | 9 | ˘/˘˘/˘˘·· |
| So you fluttered the curtains about my cradle, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘···/˘ |
| Prattling of fields | 4 | /˘·· |
| Before I had had my milk... | 7 | ······· |
| Did I stir on my pillow, making to follow you, Fleet One? | 15 | ·····/˘/˘·/˘··· |
| I--swaddled, unwinged, like a bird in the egg. | 10 | ·········· |
| Let be | 2 | ·· |
| My dreams that crackle under your breath... | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| You have the dust of the world to blow on... | 10 | ·········· |
| Do not tag me and dance away, looking back... | 11 | ······˘//˘· |
| I am too old to play with you, | 8 | ········ |
| Eternal Child. | 4 | ˘/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.