Friday Poetry: W. J. Turner

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone is well. I have had a lovely day which has involved some book shopping and an Eeyore purchase.

My chosen poem today is by the painter and poet W. J. Turner ( 1889-1946).

The Lion

Strange spirit with inky hair,
Tail tufted stiff in rage,
I saw with sudden stare
Leap on the printed page. 

The stillness of its roar
For midnight deserts torn
Clove silence to the core
Like the blare of a great horn

I saw the sudden sky;
Cities in crumbling sand;
The stars fall wheeling by;
The lion roaring stand:

The stars fall wheeling by,
Their silent, silver strain,
Cold on his glittering eye,
Cold on his craven mane

The full-orbed moon shone down,
The silence was so lid,
From jaws wide-open thrown
His voice hung like a cloud.

Earth shrank to blackest air;
That spirit stiff in rage
Into some midnight lair
Leapt from the printed page. 

W. J. Turner

Happy Reading