'The Untamed' (poem) written by R S Thomas

This poem is from the anthology 'The Bread of Truth,' published by Rupert Hart-Davis


My garden is the wild

Sea of the grass. Her garden

Shelters between the walls.

The tide could break in;

I should be sorry for this.


There is peace there is a kind,

Though not the deep peace

Of wild places. Her care

For green life has enabled 

The weak things to grow.


Despite my first love,

I take sometimes her hand,

Following straight paths

Between flowers, the nostril

Clogged with their thick scent.


The old softness of lawns

Persuading the slow foot

Leads to defection; the silence

Holds with its gloved hand

The wild hawk of the mind.


But not for long, windows,

Opening in the trees 

Call the mind back

To its true eyrie; I stoop

Here only in play.

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