“Hermes of the Ways” by H.D.

Hermes of the Ways

I

The hard sand breaks,

And the grains of it

Are clear as wine.

 

Far off over the leagues of it,

The wind,

Playing on the wide shore,

Piles little ridges,

And the great waves

Break over it.

 

But more than the many-foamed ways

Of the sea,

I know him

Of the triple path-ways,

Hermes,

Who awaiteth.

[ . . . ]

 

H.D.'s "Hermes of the Ways" was published in the 1914 imagist anthology, Des Imagistes. To read this poem in full in a digitized version of this publication, follow the links below:

Archive.org

The Blue Mountain Project (The Glebe)

The Modernist Journals Project (Charles and Albert Boni edition)