O Where Are You Going? -- W H Auden

Guest poem submitted by Daedalus Athenai:

(Poem #1508) O Where Are You Going? "O where are you going?" said reader to rider, "That valley is fatal when furnaces burn, Yonder's the midden whose odours will madden, That gap is the grave where the tall return." "O do you imagine," said fearer to farer, "That dusk will delay on your path to the pass, Your diligent looking discover the lacking Your footsteps feel from granite to grass?" "O what was that bird," said horror to hearer, "Did you see that shape in the twisted trees? Behind you swiftly the figure comes softly, The spot on your skin is a shocking disease." "Out of this house," said rider to reader, "Yours never will," said farer to fearer, "They're looking for you," said hearer to horror, As he left them there, as he left them there. -- W H Auden

Commentary: I think this is a beautiful poem, although I don't pretend to
understand it. I just enjoy the rhythm, with its overtones of despair and
hope in the face of despair. The wonderful imagery has inspired me to paint
a series of pictures based on this poem.

~Daedalus

[thomas adds]

Vikram Doctor has a nice mini-essay on the nightmarish qualities of Auden's
mid-30s output, in his commentary on Poem #427 on the Minstrels website.
Other Auden poems on the Minstrels can be found here:
[broken link] http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/index_poet_A.html#Auden