With my caravan & horses, shadows out <br />of shade we steal <br />From the town where busy people have <br />forgotten how to feel. <br />We have shared earth's hidden laughter <br />when the land was warm with spring <br />When the breezes through the cornfield left <br />the grasses tittering <br />And the trees like old man creaking <br />as they shook with kindly mirth <br />While the earth was gay & splendid <br />in the strength of her new birth <br />And we poured forth all our gladness <br />till an echo back was flung <br />For we shared the vibrant joy it was <br />to be alive & young- <br />I have felt the soft commotion of a <br />thousand breathless sighs <br />When the whole world waits a-tremble <br />& the tempest stalks the skies <br />Known something leap in answer to <br />the storms wild, restless beat <br />And the little winds have tugged me, <br />they have led my eager feet- <br />to the revels of the cliff-top, to the <br />wild & tumultuous might- <br />Shaken in its savage splendour, <br />swept to its ecstatic height <br />Till the glory of the tempest became <br />only one small part <br />Of my greater satisfaction and the <br />throbbing of my heart. <br />I have lain upon the uplands & <br />have never heard a stir, <br />And have cried my hurt & puzzlement <br />into the earth's green hair <br />I have found the gnarled comfort <br />that there is in knotted wood <br />While I only knew the smell of soil <br />beneath my tears was good. <br />Till lifting up my eyes again <br />upon me softly stole <br />the compassion of earth's still <br />things & mutely touched my soul.<br /><br />Eve Sewell-Shaw<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/gypsy-7/
