The poem
The force that through the green fuse drives the flower Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees Is my destroyer. And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.
The force that drives the water through the rocks Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams Turns mine to wax. And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins How at the mountain spring the same mouth sucks.
The hand that whirls the water in the pool Stirs the quicksand; that ropes the blowing wind Hauls my shroud sail. And I am dumb to tell the hanging man How of my clay is made the hangman's lime.
The lips of time leech to the fountain head; Love drips and gathers, but the fallen blood Shall calm her sores. And I am dumb to tell a weather's wind How time has ticked a heaven round the stars.
And I am dumb to tell the lover's tomb How at my sheet goes the same crooked worm.
I believe the "hangman's lime" (not"line") must refer to some sticky substance (like bird lime (?) that makes it easier to end a life.
'The Force that through the green fuse
Drives the flower, drives my green age...."
This poem is my Lords prayer. It expresses the presence of the life force all around us and inside us. It traces our journey through time as this force moves inexorably onward. How could that tiny flower find its way through the silt and grass above it. It is the Life Force in the universe and in all of us that has this tremendous power and accompanies us in life and death.
I believe that the "lime" DT speaks of is quicklime,
which was used in Great Britain on bodies in open graves
both to quicken the decay process and to hold down the
smell.