“`The smiling slopes with olive groves bedecked” poem – Alfred Austin
`The smiling slopes with olive groves bedecked, Now darkly green, now, as the breeze did stir, Spectral and white, as though the air were flecked With elfin branches laced with gossamer; And then so faint, the eye could scarce detect Which the gray hillside, which the foliage fair; Until once more it dense and […]
The Silent Muse poem – Alfred Austin
“Why have you silent been so long?” In tones of mild rebuke you ask. Know you not, kindly friend, that Song Is the “Gay Science,” not a task? It is but when it pleaseth God The blackthorn blows, the acorns fall; The Muse ignores a mortal’s nod, And will not come to beck and […]
The Season poem – Alfred Austin
In honest times, when purer manners reigned, And Virtue never save by Vice was pained, The Poet’s pen might flagrant scandals call By manly names, the property of all, And, like the prophets bold of Sacred Writ, Discard the sleight of circumambient wit. Now, so corruptly chaste our ways are grown, E’en words, turned […]
The Reply Of Q. Horatius Flaccus To A Roman “Round-Robin” poem – Alfred Austin
Good friends, you urge my Odes grow trite, And that of worthless station, Of fleeting youth and joy, I write With endless iteration. But say, in mortals, base or great, Have you a change detected? Are they, when victors, less elate, When vanquished, less dejected? Do they no more in mundane mire For golden […]
The Poet And The Muse poem – Alfred Austin
Whither, and whence, and why hast fled? Thou art dumb, my muse; thou art dumb, thou art dead, As a waterless stream, as a leafless tree. What have I done to banish thee? But a moon ago, the whole day long My ears were full of the sound of song; And still through my […]
The Passing Of The Primroses poem – Alfred Austin
Primroses, why do you pass away? Primroses Nay, rather, why should we longer stay? We are not needed, now stooping showers Have sandalled the feet of May with flowers. Surely, surely, ’tis time to go, Now that the splendid bluebells blow, Scattering a bridal peal, to hail June blushing under her hawthorn veil. We […]
The Passing Of The Century poem – Alfred Austin
How shall we comfort the Dying Year? Beg him to linger, or bid him go? The light in his eyes burns dim and low, His hands are clammy, his pulse beats slow, He wanders and mumbles, but doth not hear. The lanes are sodden, the leaf-drifts sere, And the wrack is weaving his shroud […]
The Passing Of Spring poem – Alfred Austin
Spring came out of the woodland chase, With her violet eyes and her primrose face, With an iris scarf for her sole apparel, And a voice as blithe as a blackbird’s carol. As she flitted by garth and slipped through glade, Her light limbs winnowed the wind, and made The gold of the pollened […]
The Owl And The Lark poem – Alfred Austin
A grizzled owl at midnight moped Where thick the ivy glistened; So I, who long have vainly groped For wisdom, leaned and listened. Its perch was firm, its aspect staid, Its big eyes gleamed and brightened; Now, now at last, will doubt be laid, Now yearning be enlightened. “Tu-whit! Tu-whoo!” the bird discoursed, “Tu-whoo! […]
The Old Land And The Young Land poem – Alfred Austin
The Young Land said, “I have borne it long, But can suffer it now no more; I must end this endless inhuman wrong Within hail of my own free shore. So fling out the war-flag’s folds, and let the righteous cannons roar!” ‘Twas a quick, rash word, for the strong Young Land Is a […]
The Lover’s Song poem – Alfred Austin
When Winter hoar no longer holds The young year in his gripe, And bleating voices fill the folds, And blackbirds pair and pipe; Then coax the maiden where the sap Awakes the woodlands drear, And pour sweet wildflowers in her lap, And sweet words in her ear. For Springtime is the season, sure, Since […]
The Last Redoubt poem – Alfred Austin
Kacelyevo’s slope still felt The cannon’s bolt and the rifles’ pelt; For a last redoubt up the hill remained, By the Russ yet held, by the Turk not gained. Mehemet Ali stroked his beard; His lips were clinched and his look was weird; Round him were ranks of his ragged folk, Their faces blackened […]
“The lark confinèd in his cage” poem – Alfred Austin
The lark confinèd in his cage, And captive in his wing, Though fluttering with imprisoned rage, Forbeareth not to sing. But still the strain, though loud and long, Is but the mock of mirth, Not that dawn-dewy nuptial song That weddeth Heaven with Earth. Voice that in freedom seems so soft, Fettered, sounds harsh […]
The Human Tragedy ACT IV poem – Alfred Austin
Personages: Gilbert- Miriam- Olympia- Godfrid. Protagonists: Love- Religion- Patriotism- Humanity. Place: Rome-Paris. Time: August 1870 -Close of May1871 And Miriam’s prayer was heard. The hosts of France Low in the dust, low in dishonour, lay: Broken her tumbrils, blunted was her lance, And tinsel Empire vanished in a day. The serried tramp of men, […]
The Human Tragedy ACT III poem – Alfred Austin
Personages: Godfrid- Gilbert- Miriam- Olympia. Protagonists: Love- Religion- * Patriotism. Place: Capri-Mentana. Time: October-November 1867 The laggard Child of Liberty and Light, Long travailed by the centuries, now was born: She had put off the obloquy of night, And like a Goddess stood, facing the morn. Minerva’s self had not more full-grown might At […]
The Human Tragedy ACT II poem – Alfred Austin
Personages: Olympia- Godfrid- Gilbert- Olive. Protagonists: Love- Religion. Place: Spiaggiascura-Milan-Florence. Time: March 1858-May 1859 There is a little city in the South, A silent little city by the sea, Where a swift Alpine torrent finds its mouth, And billowy mountains subside smilingly. It knows nor weeping skies nor dewless drouth, No seasons, save when […]
The Human Tragedy ACT I poem – Alfred Austin
Personages: Olive- Godfrid- Gilbert. Protagonist: Love. Place: England. Time: June-November 1857 Love! all-creating Love, primordial Power, By whom the Heavens, from whom the stars had birth, Fountain and force of air, light, season, shower, Growth, and the green apparel of the Earth, Source of the seed and secret of the flower, Parent of all […]
The Golden Year! poem – Alfred Austin
When piped the love-warm throstle shrill, And all the air was laden With scent of dew and daffodil, I saw a youth and maiden, Whose colour, Spring-like, came and fled, ‘Mong purple copses straying, While birchen tassels overhead Like marriage-bells kept swaying; Filled with that joy that lingers still, Which Eve brought out of […]
Winter Dream poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) Oh wind-swept towers, Oh endlessly blossoming trees, White clouds and lucid eyes, And pools in the rocks whose unplumbed blue is pregnant With who knows what of subtlety And magical curves and limbs– White Anadyomene and her shallow breasts Mother-of-pearled with light. And oh the April, […]
Waking poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) Darkness had stretched its colour, Deep blue across the pane: No cloud to make night duller, No moon with its tarnish stain; But only here and there a star, One sharp point of frosty fire, Hanging infinitely far In mockery of our life and death And […]
Vision poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) I had been sitting alone with books, Till doubt was a black disease, When I heard the cheerful shout of rooks In the bare, prophetic trees. Bare trees, prophetic of new birth, You lift your branches clean and free To be a beacon to the earth, […]
Valedictory poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) I had remarked–how sharply one observes When life is disappearing round the curves Of yet another corner, out of sight!– I had remarked when it was “good luck” and “good night” And “a good journey to you,” on her face Certain enigmas penned in the hieroglyphs […]
Topiary poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) Failing sometimes to understand Why there are folk whose flesh should seem Like carrion puffed with noisome steam, Fly-blown to the eye that looks on it, Fly-blown to the touch of a hand; Why there are men without any legs, Whizzing along on little trollies With […]
The Reef poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) My green aquarium of phantom fish, Goggling in on me through the misty panes; My rotting leaves and fields spongy with rains; My few clear quiet autumn days–I wish I could leave all, clearness and mistiness; Sodden or goldenly crystal, all too still. Yes, and I […]
The Louse-Hunters poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) (From the French of Rimbaud). When the child’s forehead, full of torments red, Cries out for sleep and its pale host of dreams, His two big sisters come unto his bed, Having long fingers, tipped with silvery gleams. They set him at a casement, open wide […]
The Life Theoretic poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) While I have been fumbling over books And thinking about God and the Devil and all, Other young men have been battling with the days And others have been kissing the beautiful women. They have brazen faces like battering-rams. But I who think about books and […]
The Flowers poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) Day after day, At spring’s return, I watch my flowers, how they burn Their lives away. The candle crocus And daffodil gold Drink fire of the sunshine– Quickly cold. And the proud tulip– How red he glows!– Is quenched ere summer Can kindle the rose. Purple […]
The Elms poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) Fine as the dust of plumy fountains blowing Across the lanterns of a revelling night, The tiny leaves of April’s earliest growing Powder the trees–so vaporously light, They seem to float, billows of emerald foam Blown by the South on its bright airy tide, Seeming less […]
The Defeat of Youth poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) I. UNDER THE TREES. There had been phantoms, pale-remembered shapes Of this and this occasion, sisterly In their resemblances, each effigy Crowned with the same bright hair above the nape’s White rounded firmness, and each body alert With such swift loveliness, that very rest Seemed a […]
The Decameron poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) Noon with a depth of shadow beneath the trees Shakes in the heat, quivers to the sound of lutes: Half shaded, half sunlit, a great bowl of fruits Glistens purple and golden: the flasks of wine Cool in their panniers of snow: silks muffle and shine: […]
The Alien poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) A petal drifted loose From a great magnolia bloom, Your face hung in the gloom, Floating, white and close. We seemed alone: but another Bent o’er you with lips of flame, Unknown, without a name, Hated, and yet my brother. Your one short moan of pain […]
Summer Stillness poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) The stars are golden instants in the deep Flawless expanse of night: the moon is set: The river sleeps, entranced, a smooth cool sleep Seeming so motionless that I forget The hollow booming bridges, where it slides, […]
Stanzas poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) Thought is an unseen net wherein our mind Is taken and vainly struggles to be free: Words, that should loose our spirit, do but bind New fetters on our hoped-for liberty: And action bears us onward like a stream Past fabulous shores, scarce seen in our […]
Song of Poplars poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) Shepherd, to yon tall poplars tune your flute: Let them pierce, keenly, subtly shrill, The slow blue rumour of the hill; Let the grass cry with an anguish of evening gold, And the great sky be mute. Then hearken how the poplar trees unfold Their buds, […]
Social Amenities poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) I am getting on well with this anecdote, When suddenly I recall The many times I have told it of old, And all the worked-up phrases, and the dying fall Of voice, well timed in the crisis, the note Of mock-heroic ingeniously struck– The whole thing […]
September poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) Spring is past and over these many days, Spring and summer. The leaves of September droop, Yellowing afid all but dead on the patient trees. Nor is there any hope in me. I walk Slowly homeward. Night is as empty and dark Behind my eyes as […]
Scenes Of The Mind poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) I have run where festival was loud With drum and brass among the crowd Of panic revellers, whose cries Affront the quiet of the skies; Whose dancing lights contract the deep Infinity of night and sleep To a narrow turmoil of troubled fire. And I have […]
Revelation poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) At your mouth, white and milk-warm sphinx, I taste a strange apocalypse: Your subtle taper finger-tips Weave me new heavens, yet, methinks, I know the wiles and each iynx That brought me passionate to your lips: I know you bare as laughter strips Your charnel beauty; […]
Return From Business poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) Evenings in trains, When the little black twittering ghosts Along the brims of cuttings, Against the luminous sky, Interrupt with their hurrying rumour every thought Save that one is young and setting, Headlong westering, And there is no recapture. Poetry Monster – Home […]
Private Property poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) All fly–yet who is misanthrope?– The actual men and things that pass Jostling, to wither as the grass So soon: and (be it heaven’s hope, Or poetry’s kaleidoscope, Or love or wine, at feast, at mass) Each owns a paradise of glass Where never a yearning […]