Review of "At the Touch of You" by Witter Bynner

"At the Touch of You" by Witter Bynner was offered by Poets.org's Poem-A-Day on February 22, 2014.  A link to the poem may be found here:  http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/23896?utm_source=PAD%3A+At+the+Touch+of+You+by+Witter+Bynner&utm_campaign=poemaday_022214&utm_medium=email.

Witter Bynner (1881 - 1968) was the author of several books of poetry.  His early work mocked the Imagists.  His later work was influenced by Chinese and Japanese forms.  He taught at the University of California at Berkeley from 1918 - 1922.

Bynner moved to New Mexico in 1922 where he lived out his life with his partner Robert Hunt.  The poem was published in 1917, during which time he was in Japan with his partner in crime, Arthur Davison Ficke, with whom he spoofed the Imagists.  One wonders whether it was Hunt, Ficke, or someone else entirely who inspired Bynner to compose "At the Touch of You."  Additional biographical information about Bynner may be found here:  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/witter-bynner.

The poem is presented in two tercets of irregular free verse.  The theme is romantic love.  The imagery in the first stanza is evocative of Greek mythology.  The second stanza uses the image of a waterfall to create a beautiful metaphor.