Author's Prologue

This day winding¹ down now

　　At God speeded summer's end

　　In the torrent² salmon³ sun，

　　In my seashaken house

　　On a breakneck of rocks

　　Tangled⁴ with chirrup and fruit，

　　Froth， flute⁵， fin⁶， and quill⁷

　　At a wood's dancing hoof⁸，

　　By scummed， starfish sands

　　With their fishwife cross

　　Gulls⁹， pipers， cockles， and snails¹⁰，

　　Out there， crow black， men

　　Tackled with clouds， who kneel

　　To the sunset nets，

　　Geese nearly in heaven， boys

　　Stabbing， and herons， and shells

　　That speak seven seas，

　　Eternal waters away

　　From the cities of nine

　　Days' night whose towers will catch

　　In the religious wind

　　Like stalks of tall， dry straw，

　　At poor peace I sing

　　To you strangers （though song

　　Is a burning and crested¹¹ act，

　　The fire of birds in

　　The world's turning wood，

　　For my swan， splay sounds），

　　Out of these seathumbed leaves

　　That will fly and fall

　　Like leaves of trees and as soon

　　Crumble¹² and undie

　　Into the dogdayed night.

　　Seaward the salmon， sucked sun slips，

　　And the dumb swans drub blue

　　My dabbed¹³ bay's dusk， as I hack¹⁴

　　This rumpus of shapes

　　For you to know

　　How I， a spining man，

　　Glory also this star， bird

　　Roared， sea born， man torn， blood blest.

　　Hark： I trumpet¹⁵ the place，

　　From fish to jumping hill！ Look：

　　I build my bellowing¹⁶ ark

　　To the best of my love

　　As the flood begins，

　　Out of the fountainhead

　　Of fear， rage read， manalive，

　　Molten and mountainous to stream

　　Over the wound asleep

　　Sheep white hollow farms

　　To Wales in my arms.

　　Hoo， there， in castle keep，

　　You king singsong owls¹⁷， who moonbeam

　　The flickering¹⁸ runs and dive

　　The dingle furred deer dead！

　　Huloo， on plumbed¹⁹ bryns，

　　O my ruffled²⁰ ring dove

　　in the hooting²¹， nearly dark

　　With Welsh and reverent²² rook，

　　Coo rooning the woods' praise，

　　who moons her blue notes from her nest

　　Down to the curlew herd²³！

　　Ho， hullaballoing clan²⁴

　　Agape， with woe²⁵

　　In your beaks²⁶， on the gabbing²⁷ capes²⁸！

　　Heigh， on horseback hill， jack²⁹

　　Whisking hare！ who

　　Hears， there， this fox light， my flood ship's

　　Clangour as I hew³⁰ and smite³¹

　　（A clash of anvils³² for my

　　Hubbub³³ and fiddle³⁴， this tune³⁵

　　On atounged puffball）

　　But animals thick as theives

　　On God's rough tumbling grounds

　　（Hail to His beasthood！）.

　　Beasts who sleep good and thin，

　　Hist， in hogback woods！ The haystacked

　　Hollow farms ina throng³⁶

　　Of waters cluck and cling，

　　And barnroofs cockcrow war！

　　O kingdom of neighbors finned³⁷

　　Felled and quilled， flash to my patch

　　Work ark and the moonshine

　　Drinking Noah of the bay，

　　With pelt³⁸， and scale， and fleece：

　　Only the drowned deep bells

　　Of sheep and churches noise

　　Poor peace as the sun sets

　　And dark shoals every holy field.

　　We will ride out alone then，

　　Under the stars of Wales，

　　Cry， Multiudes of arks！ Across

　　The water lidded lands，

　　Manned with their loves they'll move

　　Like wooden islands， hill to hill.

　　Huloo， my prowed dove with a flute！

　　Ahoy， old， sea-legged fox，

　　Tom tit and Dai mouse！

　　My ark sings in the sun

　　At God speeded summer's end

　　And the flood flowers now.