This bread I break was once the oat,
This wine upon a foreign tree
Plunged in its fruit;
Man in the day or wine at night
Laid the crops low, broke the grape's joy.
Once in this time wine the summer blood
Knocked in the flesh that decked the vine,
Once in this bread
The oat was merry in the wind;
Man broke the sun, pulled the wind down.
This flesh you break, this blood you let
Make desolation in the vein,
Were oat and grape
Born of the sensual root and sap;
My wine you drink, my bread you snap.
This Bread I Break
Dylan Thomas
(1)
Poem topics: joy, night, summer, sun, time, tree, fruit, sensual, drink, merry, Valentine's Day, wind, break, bread, I love you, I miss you, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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Write your comment about This Bread I Break poem by Dylan Thomas
Anthony Lee: The poem is quoted incorrectly, not only here but on several other sites. It seems to be a virus.
"Man in the day or _wine_ at night" should be "_wind_ at night." And in line 1 verse 2, "time" does not belong: "Once in this wine the summer blood..."
Allison Bridges-Matthews: some of the "wine" should be "wind" as per
https://archive.org/details/poems0000thom_q9m0/page/86/mode/2up?q=this+bread
Gwen Podbrey: Magnificent, in its sorrow, its references to the holy communion bread and wine, to the words of Christ and in our misguidedness in what we choose to revere - and to desecrate. The image of the wine (the blood of summer) knocking inside the veins is unforgettable. Written as only Dylan Thomas could.
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