Song of Palms

Arthur O'Shaughnessy

1844 to 1881

Poem Image
Track 1

Reconstruct the poem by dragging each line into its correct position. Your goal is to reassemble the original poem as accurately as possible. As you move the lines, you'll see whether your arrangement is correct, helping you explore the poem's flow and meaning. You can also print out the jumbled poem to cut up and reassemble in the classroom. Either way, take your time, enjoy the process, and discover how the poet's words come together to create something truly beautiful.

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Hold the enchanted secret theirs:
Like a high and radiant ocean,
Over wonders of its own;
Wave-like, palm by palm is stirred, 
Who can say what thing it bears? 
In the wide leaves' restless world.
But the crimson bird hath fed 
Crossing forest and savannah,
Who is ruler of each race
Life and death and dream have made
Lisp and murmur back again, 
Lofty palm to palm hath taught, 
While a single vast liana
Glowing, revelling, and dying?
Dwelling there for years and years, 
Rapturous souls of perfume, hurled 
Yellow winding water-lane, 
All the fair palm world in motion; 
Crowned with sunset and sunrise, 
Waving from green zone to zone,
All one brotherhood hath wrought, 
And the day sings one rich word, 
Mysteries in many a shade,
Trackless, untraversed, unknown, 
And the sun alone hath seen,
Blazing bird and blooming flower,
Living in each boundless place, 
Hollow haunt and hidden bower
With the flower hath been wed.
Dwarf cane and tall marití.
And ripe under-worlds deliver 
And the flower in soft explosion 
Changeless through the centuries.
Up to where green oceans quiver 
And the great night comes replying.
Closed alike to sun and shower.
Many thousand years have been, 
Mighty, luminous, and calm
Growing, flowering, and flying, 
And its long luxuriant thought
Fig-tree, buttress-tree, banana,
With its mate of equal red,
And the bird sings to the bird, 
Is the country of the palm, 
Long red reaches of the cane, 
Under blue unbroken skies,
Verdant isle and amber river, 
Binding fern and coco-tree,