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I would like to submit a poem by another writer. Judith Wright. It lead me to poetry when I was 11

Legend
 
The blacksmith’s boy went out with a rifle
and a black dog running behind.
Cobwebs snatched at his feet,
rivers hindered him,
thorn branches caught at his eyes to make him blind
and the sky turned into an unlucky opal,
but he didn’t mind.
I can break branches, I can swim rivers, I can stare out any spider I meet,
said he to his dog and his rifle.
The blacksmith’s boy went over the paddocks
with his old black hat on his head.
Mountains jumped in his way,
rocks rolled down on him,
and the old crow cried, You’ll soon be dead.
And the rain came down like mattocks.
But he only said,
I can climb mountains, I can dodge rocks, I can shoot an old crow any day,
and he went on over the paddocks.
When he came to the end of the day, the sun began falling,
Up came the night ready to swallow him,
like the barrel of a gun,
like an old black hat,
like a black dog hungry to follow him.
Then the pigeon, the magpie and the dove began wailing
and the grass lay down to pillow him.
His rifle broke, his hat blew away and his dog was gone and the sun was falling.
But in front of the night, the rainbow stood on the mountain,
just as his heart foretold.
He ran like a hare,
he climbed like a fox;
he caught it in his hands, the colours and the cold -
like a bar of ice, like the column of a fountain,
like a ring of gold.
The pigeon, the magpie and the dove flew up to stare,
and the grass stood up again on the mountain.
The blacksmith’s boy hung the rainbow on his shoulder
instead of his broken gun.
Lizards ran out to see, snakes made way for him,
and the rainbow shone as brightly as the sun.
All the world said, Nobody is braver, nobody is bolder,
nobody else has done
anything equal to it. He went home as easy as could be
with the swinging rainbow on his shoulder.

About This Poem

About the Author

Region, Country: Sydney, Australia, AUS

Favorite Poets: The Romantics, The Mersey Sound, The Beats and, of course, The Bard

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Comments

weirdelf

weirdelf

18 years 11 months ago

our own stuff

I have posted 2 poems by other people, always duly credited and I think they were both very worth posting. Do you think this should be a strict rule? I think this should be an open forum and as long as other peoples poems are duly credited it should be allowed. Its not to show what poets don't know, come on man, we all have influences, can't we share them too?
C

Conect11

18 years 10 months ago

think

it was meant in good fun, buddy. And thanks for posting that, really enjoyed it and I'm going to look up more of Judith Wright's work. Have been thinking about posting one or two "borrowed" poems, maybe I will now. Mark
O

orgami

18 years 3 months ago

our heroes and heroinnes

without someone to lead where would we be?? without influence what sort of voice would poetry have?? i love to read what poems stick with fellow Neopoet's what drew them to also start to write poetry from grade school to our own discoveries and we can learn or we can stretch out and experiment as i obviously do in my works I Liked Judiths Poems Weirdelf thanks for posting this O
F

frangipangi

17 years 10 months ago

thank you Weirdelf

Yes, keep posting what inspires and generates vision, thats why we are all writers today, SOMEONE inspired us and stirred up the gift within us (for me it was Bradbury), caused us to dream and see and write so others could see and dream and live. Keep sharing, it is vital. Yours, Fran
Linda Moses

Linda Moses

17 years 6 months ago

Jess

I like the idea, actually, I was thinking about posting a poem by my brother David who died 2 years ago. It was his only published piece.