The first poems by Robert Francis I encountered were read as part of a book review on BBC radio in, I think, 1966. The volume was Come Out Into the Sun: Poems New and Selected, handsomely printed by the University of Massachusetts Press. I acquired my copy in January, 1967. From that broadcast, I remember in particular the following poem, "Eagle Plain". It is one of several poems over the years in which the eagle figures symbolically. If the impression has grown up that Francis is a rural formalist, this poem perhaps hints at a wider range of concerns, both thematic and artistic.
The American eagle is not aware he is
the American eagle. He is never tempted
to look modest.
When orators advertise the American eagle's
virtues, the American eagle is not listening.
This is his virtue.
He is somewhere else, he is mountains away
but even if he were near he would never
make an audience.
The American eagle never says he will serve
if drafted, will dutifully serve etc. He is
not at our service.
If we have honored him we have honored one
who unequivocally honors himself by
overlooking us.
He does not know the meaning of magnificent.
Perhaps we do not altogether either
who cannot touch him.
Clive Watkins
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