The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower - Richard Burton

The force that through the

Green fuse drives the flower

Drives my green age;

That blasts the roots of trees

Is my destroyer

And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose

My youth is bent by the same wintry fever

The force that drives the water through the rocks

Drives my red blood;

That dries the mouthing streams

Turns mine to wax

And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins

How at the mountain

Spring the same mouth sucks

The hand that whirls the water in the pool

Stirs the quicksand; that ropes the blowing wind

Hauls my shroud sail

And I am dumb to tell the hanging man

How of my clay is made the hangman's lime

The lips of time leech to the fountain head;

Love drips and gathers but the fallen blood

Shall calm her sores

And I am dumb to tell a weather's wind

How time has ticked a heaven round the stars

And I am dumb to tell the lover's tomb

How at my sheet goes the same crooked worm