English Poetry. Joyce Kilmer. Madness. Джойс Килмер.

Joyce Kilmer (Джойс Килмер)

Madness

(For Sara Teasdale)

The lonely farm, the crowded street,
The palace and the slum,
Give welcome to my silent feet
As, bearing gifts, I come.
Last night a beggar crouched alone,
A ragged helpless thing;
I set him on a moonbeam throne --
Today he is a king.
Last night a king in orb and crown
Held court with splendid cheer;
Today he tears his purple gown
And moans and shrieks in fear.
Not iron bars, nor flashing spears,
Not land, nor sky, nor sea,
Nor love’s artillery of tears
Can keep mine own from me.
Serene, unchanging, ever fair,
I smile with secret mirth
And in a net of mine own hair
I swing the captive earth.

Joyce Kilmer’s other poems:

1. St. Alexis, Patron of Beggars
2. Multiplication
3. The Robe of Christ
4. Memorial Day
5. Old Poets

Poems of other poets with the same name (Стихотворения других поэтов с таким же названием):

George Borrow (Джордж Борроу) Madness (“What darkens, what darkens?-‘t is heaven’s high roof”)

880

To the dedicated English version of this website

---