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For my brother

I wish I were on Razorback Mountain
O grinning cliffs that gurgle happy streams
And lily maidens swaying soft
To organ winds that play the scene
Of leaping swine that dance like gypsies
My faded memories recall
I must have been a trifle tipsy
For now the mountains seem so small

I wish I were on Razorback Mountain
My sunken countenance does not betray
These calls of natures bush, primeval,
That casts my anchored heart from bay
For in my mind that runs like rivers
For in my mind that sleeps in caves
My razorback companions nightly
Squeal ancient tales of yesterday

I wish I were on Razorback Mountain
I’m yelling out from off my bed
I’m Sweeny in a white coat waiting
Inside a room that’s long been dead
O take me back were meadows wander
O take me back to golden fountains
Where all my warthog friends lie sleeping
O way up there on Razorback Mountain

Dear Yeats,

I'm very touched by this... its world is so cherished and so real (dreamily so)...

Violet

Thank you Violet,
Your reply was very kind. I'm glad you enjoyed the little adventure.

Hi again,

Now I'm finding it humorous... it's funny, the first time I read it it was more about rhythm to me... I guess I missed a lot the first time, although still, it's sweet!

Violet

Actually... I now officially would love to know some of the secrets of this poem... I feel there is much here that I just can't know! So, do tell, if you're so inclined! What is this little adventure, memory, that you've dedicated to your brother?... (rife with swine!)

Secrets of the poem, eh?

To tell the truth, there aren't many. It is pretty much about a person at the sudden moment of waking up from a dream that they once had as a child but had again later on in life. First he recalls fondly of the dream as if he were merely looking back on his childhood memories which becomes more intense for him as he wishes that he could have been there longer.
(The "...Sweeny in a white coat waiting" part sounds like im writing instead about an insane person, but no. Its meant to refer to sleep paralysis which people have during REM sleep (of which my brother often talks about). It is to represent the feeling that a whole world of mixed dream/reality is going on while you cannot move (i.e King Sweeny who cannot move from his branch)

And most importantly: Why pigs? Because we love them.

Yeats,

What comes across to me most is the poem's intense longing, which I think you've given some further grounding in your comments, which also help flesh out this rich, imaginary world of sleep -- and even sleep's harnessing of us. Thank you -- please write us some more! I think you've found some feeling here, some world that's just beyond us, that's worth running with for a while.

Violet