A
WONDER IS FAINT DAWN
This
poem was written originally to celebrate the birth of a friend’s
child. It is mainly written in iambic tetrameter - da
DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM, for
example: A wonder
is faint
dawn’s
first ray.
In
contrast the concluding last four lines are in iambic trimeter - da
DUM da DUM da DUM, that
from
our infant
dawn.
The
“meaning” is built up from a series of relatively simple, clear
images and this sense of clear form is further helped by the precise
rhymes.
A
WONDER IS FAINT DAWN
A
wonder is faint dawn’s first ray
that
brings forth fullness of new day.
A
wonder is the diamond’s birth
from
weight and fire of deep earth:
how
smudge of carbon can set free
such
strength through form, such brilliancy.
A
wonder is the seed that shoots
to
first small leaves and tiny roots,
till
many seasons on we see
green
tower of a forest tree.
A
wonder are those awkward things
with
fluff for coats and stubs for wings
that
grow so soon in feathered might
to
eagle’s free, cloud-touching flight.
Yet
greater wonder is this sight-
that
from our infant dawn
the
gem, the tree, the light,
the
great, age-spanning flight,
of
human life is born.
