Dylan Thomas’ most famous poems such as Fern Hill or In My Craft Or Sullen Art can be easily found online, but I have never come across this poem on the Net. It’s haunting. Maybe it will appeal to anyone who has moved from one place to another or is thinking of moving on. It captures the restlessness and anxiety one feels when, tired of the old life, one seeks a new beginning. The poem is called Ears In The Turrets Hear.

By the way, do listen to Dylan Thomas reading In My Craft Or Sullen Art. It’s on the Poetry Archive website, a treasure house for poetry lovers.

There are similarities between the two poems. Both are  romantic, atmospheric and vivid in their imagery.

Ears in the turrets hear
Hands grumble on the door,
Eyes in the gables see
The fingers at the locks.
Shall I unbolt or stay
Alone till the day I die
Unseen by stranger-eyes
In this white house?
Hands, hold you poison or grapes?

Beyond this island bound
By a thin sea of flesh
And a bone coast,
The land lies out of sound
And the hills out of mind.
No birds or flying fish
Disturbs this island’s rest.

Ears in the island hear
The wind pass like a fire,
Eyes in the island see
Ships anchor off the bay,
Shall I run to the ships
With the wind in my hair,
Or stay till the day I die
And welcome no sailor?
Ships, hold you poison or grapes?

Hands grumble on the door,
Ships anchor off the bay,
Rain beats the sand and slates,
Shall I let in the stranger,
Shall I welcome the sailor,
Or stay till the day I die?

Hands of the stranger and holds of the ships,
Hold you poison or grapes?