SKYLARK* 

A whirring mist 
of quick wings 

lifts him aloft 
from the flattening land, 

his trilling throat rains 
sparks of song: 

piercing the sky, 
a lone wedge winging 

against the weight 
of the liquid light 

lapping him round, 
the pulsing light, 

till all be lost 
but the sound of his singing. 
  
  

                     (1934-37)

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* This poem appears in the selection of poems made my Alan Tucker for GOGMAGOG (see p. 71), and is labeled ‘From: THE WHIRLIGIG, 1954’. There is, however, no such poem in THE WHIRLIGIG, tho there is the poem ‘Skylark-Loft’. When asked about this discrepancy, Alan said he had been very fastidious in his editing of the poems, and that Morris had supplied the texts and had seen the proof pages for the book. At this point, it must be assumed this is an extremely revised version of ‘Skylark-Loft’, tho if this is the case, it is so changed that it constitutes a wholly different poem. It is included here for comparison with the earlier version found in THE WHIRLIGIG. - BH/03