[Skip Navigation]

Plagiarist Poetry Sites: Plagiarist.com | Poetry X | Poetry Discussion Forums | Open Poetry Project | Joycean.org
Enter our Poetry Contest
Win Cash and Publication!

Plagiarist.com Archive

More poems by Derek WalcottDerek Walcott | Print this page.Print | View and Write CommentsComments | Books by Derek WalcottBooks by Derek Walcott

Pentecost

Derek Walcott


Better a jungle in the head
than rootless concrete.
Better to stand bewildered
by the fireflies' crooked street;

winter lamps do not show
where the sidewalk is lost,
nor can these tongues of snow
speak for the Holy Ghost;

the self-increasing silence 
of words dropped from a roof
points along iron railings,
direction, in not proof.

But best is this night surf
with slow scriptures of sand,
that sends, not quite a seraph,
but a late cormorant,

whose fading cry propels
through phosphorescent shoal
what, in my childhood gospels,
used to be called the Soul.


Anonymous submission.

Added: 16 Feb 2003 | Last Read: 7 Jun 2025 10:03 AM | Viewed: 7805 times

A PoetryNotes™ Analysis of Pentecost by Derek Walcott, is Available!

A PoetryNotes™ eBook is available for this poem for delivery within 24 hours, and usually available within minutes during normal business hours.

ON SALE - only $29.95 19.95!

For more information...


URL: http://plagiarist.com/poetry/7851/ | Viewed on 7 June 2025.
Copyright ©2025 Plagiarist - All rights reserved.