FIRST POEM OF THE NEW YEAR

Song of a Man Who Has Come Through

	Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me!
	A fine wind is blowing the new direction of Time.
	If only I let it bear me, carry me, if only it carry me!
	If only I am sensitive, subtle, oh, delicate, a winged gift!
5	If only, most lovely of all, I yield myself and am borrowed
	By the fine, fine wind that takes its course through the chaos of the world
	Like a fine, an exquisite chisel, a wedge-blade inserted;
	If only I am keen and hard like the sheer tip of a wedge
	Driven by invisible blows,
10	The rock will split, we shall come at the wonder, we shall find the Hesperides.
	Oh, for the wonder that bubbles into my soul,
	I would be a good fountain, a good well-head,
	Would blur no whisper, spoil no expression.
	What is the knocking?
15	What is the knocking at the door in the night?
	It is somebody wants to do us harm.
	No, no, it is the three strange angels.
	Admit them, admit them This poem is by D.H. Lawrence. I read it today, this first day of 2008. It is one of Lawrence's more optimistic poems. He moaned much about the conditions of his own time, and warned against a mechanical world. He whined a lot about the effects of Money & Progress. I wonder what he would write today about Progress in our electronic and computerized world. Would it be angels knocking? IT'S THE OIL STUPID!