Alice Meynell

The Wind Is Blind

 "EYELESS, IN GAZA, AT THE MILL, WITH SLAVES"

                                       Milton's "Samson."

                The wind is blind.
The earth sees sun and moon; the height
    Is watch-tower to the dawn; the plain
Shines to the summer; visible light
    Is scattered in the drops of rain.

                The wind is blind.
The flashing billows are aware;
    With open eyes the cities see;
Light leaves the ether, everywhere
    Known to the homing bird and bee.

                The wind is blind,
Is blind alone. How has he hurled
    His ignorant lash, his aimless dart,
His eyeless rush upon the world,
    Unseeing, to break his unknown heart!

                The wind is blind,
And the sail traps him, and the mill
    Captures him; and he cannot save
His swiftness and his desperate will
    From those blind uses of the slave.