"Suspense" By D. H. Lawrence

Suspense

The wind comes from the north
Blowing little flocks of birds
Like spray across the town,
And a train roaring forth
Rushes stampeding down
South with flying curds
Of steam, from the darkening north.

Whether I turn and set
Like a needle steadfastly,
Wait ever to get
The news that she is free;
But ever fixed, as yet
To the lode of her agony.

In the first part of the poem, I am reminded of the trip down here because of the use of the train to show the wind from the north that roars. It is blowing little flocks of birds which is interesting to note because it is not the flocks of geese and ducks that usually migrate. The trains in the time that this poem was written were steam and it was a bygone era that seam would rise above the engine locomotive like curds from the darkening north as if a storm was coming or a welcome storm to a dry region.

The voice of the poem is using the compass illusion and that he is waiting for someone to be free to join him and he is tuned into her and of her suffering of being around someone who she does not want to be with. The poet thinks of her and himself as he flows as if he is one with the clouds and the pending dark clouds of the north, yet there is a hint that it is not winter that is coming which is death but spring and growth of rain and the small birds of spring.