The Magpie’s Shadow
by Yvor Winters
desert river bed
I. IN WINTER
Myself
Pale mornings, and
I rise.
Still Morning
Snow air–my fingers curl.
Awakening
New snow, O pine of dawn!
Winter Echo
Thin air! My mind is gone.
The Hunter
Run! In the magpie’s shadow.
No Being
I, bent. Thin nights receding.
II. IN SPRING
Spring
I walk out the world’s door.
May
Oh, evening in my hair!
Spring Rain
My doorframe smells of leaves.
Song
Why should I stop
for spring?
III. IN SUMMER AND AUTUMN
Sunrise
Pale bees! O whither now?
Fields
I did not pick
a flower.
At Evening
Like leaves my feet passed by.
Cool Nights
At night bare feet on flowers!
Sleep
Like winds my eyelids close.
The Aspen’s Song
The summer holds me here.
The Walker
In dream my feet are still.
Blue Mountains
A deer walks that mountain.
God of Roads
I, peregrine of noon.
September
Faint gold! O think not here.
A Lady
She’s sun on autumn leaves.
Alone
I saw day’s shadow strike.
A Deer
The trees rose in the dawn.
Man in Desert
His feet run as eyes blink.
Desert
The tented autumn, gone!
The End
Dawn rose, and desert shrunk.
High Valleys
In sleep I filled these lands.
Awaiting Snow
The well of autumn–dry.