Oath

BY ROSEMARY TONKS

I swear that I would not go back

To pole the glass fishpools where the rough breath lies
That built the Earth there, under the heavy trees
With their bark thats full of grocers spice,
Not for an hour although my heart
Moves, thirstily, to drink the thought would I
Go back to run my boat
On the brown rain that made it slippery,
I would not for a youth
Return to ignorance, and be the wildfowl
Thrown about by the dark water seasons
With an ink-storm of dark moods against my soul,
And no firm ground inside my breast,
Only the breath of God that stirs
Scent-kitchens of refreshing trees,
And the shabby green cartilage of play upon my knees.
With no hard earth inside my breast
To hold a Universe made out of breath,
Slippery as fish with their wet mortar made of mirrors
I laid a grip of glass upon my youth.
And not for the waterpools would I go back
To a Universe unreal as breath although I use
The great muscle of my heart
To thirst like a drunkard for the scent-storm of the trees.
Rosemary Tonks, "Oath" from Bedouin of the London Evening: Collected Poems. Copyright 2014 by Rosemary
Tonks. Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books Ltd.
Source: Bedouin of the London Evening: Collected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2014)