“The
first poems I knew were nursery rhymes, and before I could read them for
myself, I had come to love just the words of them, the words alone.”
– Dylan Thomas
Born
on Oct. 27, 1914, Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer whose
works include one of the 20th century’s most widely quoted poems,
"Do not go gentle into that good night." Though
Thomas wrote exclusively in English, he has been acknowledged as one of the
most important Welsh poets of the 20th century and is noted for his original,
rhythmic and ingenious use of both words and imagery.
For Saturday’s Poem, here is Dylan Thomas’
Being But Men
Being
but men, we walked into the trees
Afraid, letting our syllables be soft
For fear of waking the rooks,
For fear of coming
Noiselessly into a world of wings and cries.
If we were children we might climb,
Catch the rooks sleeping, and break no twig,
And, after the soft ascent,
Thrust out our heads above the branches
To wonder at the unfailing stars.
Out of confusion, as the way is,
And the wonder, that man knows,
Out of the chaos would come bliss.
That, then, is loveliness, we said,
Children in wonder watching the stars,
Is the aim and the end.
Being but men, we walked into the trees.
Afraid, letting our syllables be soft
For fear of waking the rooks,
For fear of coming
Noiselessly into a world of wings and cries.
If we were children we might climb,
Catch the rooks sleeping, and break no twig,
And, after the soft ascent,
Thrust out our heads above the branches
To wonder at the unfailing stars.
Out of confusion, as the way is,
And the wonder, that man knows,
Out of the chaos would come bliss.
That, then, is loveliness, we said,
Children in wonder watching the stars,
Is the aim and the end.
Being but men, we walked into the trees.
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