The Lofty Sky

Edward Thomas 1878 (London Borough of Lambeth) – 1917 (Pas-de-Calais)



To-day I want the sky,
The tops of the high hills,
Above the last man's house,
His hedges, and his cows,
Where, if I will, I look
Down even on sheep and rook,
And of all things that move
See buzzards only above:-
Past all trees, past furze
And thorn, where nought deters
The desire of the eye
For sky, nothing but sky.
I sicken of the woods
And all the multitudes
Of hedge-trees. They are no more
Than weeds upon this floor
Of the river of air
Leagues deep, leagues wide, where
I am like a fish that lives
In weeds and mud and gives
What's above him no thought.
I might be a tench for aught
That I can do to-day
Down on the wealden clay.
Even the tench has days
When he floats up and plays
Among the lily leaves
And sees the sky, or grieves
Not if he nothing sees:
While I, I know that trees
Under that lofty sky
Are weeds, fields mud, and I
Would arise and go far
To where the lilies are.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 26, 2023

55 sec read
129

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEEFGBHAAIJKKLLMMNNOOPPQQRRAASS
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 864
Words 183
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 34

Edward Thomas

Philip Edward Thomas was an Anglo-Welsh poet and essayist. more…

All Edward Thomas poems | Edward Thomas Books

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