Water

       
         WATER* 
Allaweep  mistborn  bursts  the  slow• 
wittering  rivulets  seep  the  stillwomb : 
mothermild  waterfold•   hollowlowlay• bold• 
wavers• wells  to  knitbound  stithmood : 
tears  the  lowthrough•   out• thrusts  the  flickquick : 
teems  the  mere . . 
where  wallowboomhollow  berounds  the  sound• 
stream• mood  moves  from  still  to  brimstream : 
waterstream  stirs  the  mare  to  mereflood• 
whelms  the  shore  with  leaplift  la• • sh• 
boomhollowbreak  broutseethe : 
all• long  leaps  the  ith . . 
or  gushstream  swills•   or  stillpool  lolls : 
or  drip•   or  drop :  or drop . .

                              (1934)

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* Cox intended his ‘nature poems’ to be read aloud, and developed a

typography to guide the reader. A key to these typographical cues is given in

the Preliminary Note to the Gogmagog book, 9 POEMS FROM NATURE (1959),

which is a sequence of nature poems from 1937:

. [full stop] = a pause of one full breath.

. . [two full stops] = a pause of two full breaths, etc.

: [colon] = a half-breath pause.

• [elevated, smaller dot] = a slight pause without taking breath.

– BH/03