The Bird With The Dark Plumes

Robinson Jeffers 1887 (Allegheny) – 1962 (Carmel-by-the-Sea)



The bird with the dark plumes in my blood,
That never for one moment however I patched my truces
Consented to make peace with the people,
It is pitiful now to watch her pleasure In a breath of
        tempest
Breaking the sad promise of spring.
Are these that morose hawk's wings, vaulting, a mere
        mad swallow's,
The snow-shed peak, the violent precipice?
Poor outlaw that would not value their praise do you
        prize their blame?
"Their liking" she said "was a long creance,
But let them be kind enough to hate me that opens the
        sky."
It is almost as foolish my poor falcon
To want hatred as to want love; and harder to win.

Submitted by Holt

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
114

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXXXXXAAXXAXXXX X
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 660
Words 121
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 16, 1

Robinson Jeffers

John Robinson Jeffers was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. more…

All Robinson Jeffers poems | Robinson Jeffers Books

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