The Birch-Tree at Loschwitz poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
At Loschwitz above the city The air is sunny and chill; The birch-trees and the pine-trees Grow thick upon the hill. Lone and tall, with silver stem, A birch-tree stands apart; The passionate wind of spring-time Stirs in its leafy heart. I lean against the birch-tree, My arms around it twine; It […]
Straw in the Street poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Straw in the street where I pass to-day Dulls the sound of the wheels and feet. ‘Tis for a failing life they lay Straw in the street. Here, where the pulses of London beat, Someone strives with the Presence grey; Ah, is it victory or defeat? The hurrying people go their way, […]
Sonnet poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Most wonderful and strange it seems, that I Who but a little time ago was tost High on the waves of passion and of pain, With aching heat and wildly throbbing brain, Who peered into the darkness, deeming vain All things there found if but One thing were lost, Thus calm and still and […]
Sinfonia Eroica poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
(To Sylvia.) My Love, my Love, it was a day in June, A mellow, drowsy, golden afternoon; And all the eager people thronging came To that great hall, drawn by the magic name Of one, a high magician, who can raise The spirits of the past and future days, And draw the dreams […]
Run to Death poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
A True Incident of Pre-Revolutionary French History. Now the lovely autumn morning breathes its freshness in earth’s face, In the crowned castle courtyard the blithe horn proclaims the chase; And the ladies on the terrace smile adieux with rosy lips To the huntsmen disappearing down the cedar-shaded groves, Wafting delicate aromas from their […]
Ralph to Mary poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Love, you have led me to the strand, Here, where the stilly, sunset sea, Ever receding silently, Lays bare a shining stretch of sand; Which, as we tread, in waving line, Sinks softly ‘neath our moving feet; And looking down our glances meet, Two mirrored figures–yours and mine. To-night you found me […]
Philosophy poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Ere all the world had grown so drear, When I was young and you were here, ‘Mid summer roses in summer weather, What pleasant times we’ve had together! We were not Phyllis, simple-sweet, And Corydon; we did not meet By brook or meadow, but among A Philistine and flippant throng Which much […]
Out of Town poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Out of town the sky was bright and blue, Never fog-cloud, lowering, thick, was seen to frown; Nature dons a garb of gayer hue, Out of town. Spotless lay the snow on field and down, Pure and keen the air above it blew; All wore peace and beauty for a crown. London […]
On the Wye in May poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Now is the perfect moment of the year. Half naked branches, half a mist of green, Vivid and delicate the slopes appear; The cool, soft air is neither fierce nor keen, And in the temperate sun we feel no fear; Of all the hours which shall be and have been, It is the […]
On the Threshold poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
O God, my dream! I dreamed that you were dead; Your mother hung above the couch and wept Whereon you lay all white, and garlanded With blooms of waxen whiteness. I had crept Up to your chamber-door, which stood ajar, And in the doorway watched you from afar, Nor dared advance to kiss your […]
Oh, Is It Love? poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
O is it Love or is it Fame, This thing for which I sigh? Or has it then no earthly name For men to call it by? I know not what can ease my pains, Nor what it is I wish; The passion at my heart-strings strains Like a tiger in a leash. […]
New Love, New Life poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
I. She, who so long has lain Stone-stiff with folded wings, Within my heart again The brown bird wakes and sings. Brown nightingale, whose strain Is heard by day, by night, She sings of joy and pain, Of sorrow and delight. II. ‘Tis true,–in other days Have I unbarred the […]
Magdalen poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
All things I can endure, save one. The bare, blank room where is no sun; The parcelled hours; the pallet hard; The dreary faces here within; The outer women’s cold regard; The Pastor’s iterated “sin”;– These things could I endure, and count No overstrain’d, unjust amount; No undue payment for such bliss– Yea, all […]
London Poets poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
(In Memoriam.) They trod the streets and squares where now I tread, With weary hearts, a little while ago; When, thin and grey, the melancholy snow Clung to the leafless branches overhead; Or when the smoke-veiled sky grew stormy-red In autumn; with a re-arisen woe Wrestled, what time the passionate spring winds blow; […]
London in July poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
What ails my senses thus to cheat? What is it ails the place, That all the people in the street Should wear one woman’s face? The London trees are dusty-brown Beneath the summer sky; My love, she dwells in London town, Nor leaves it in July. O various and intricate maze, Wide […]
Lohengrin poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Back to the mystic shore beyond the main The mystic craft has sped, and left no trace. Ah, nevermore may she behold his face, Nor touch his hand, nor hear his voice again! With hidden front she crouches; all in vain The proffered balm. A vessel nears the place; They bring her young, lost […]
Last Words poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Dead! all’s done with! — R. Browning. These blossoms that I bring, This song that here I sing, These tears that now I shed, I give unto the dead. There is no more to be done, Nothing beneath the sun, All the long ages through, Nothing–by me for you. The tale […]
June poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Last June I saw your face three times; Three times I touched your hand; Now, as before, May month is o’er, And June is in the land. O many Junes shall come and go, Flow’r-footed o’er the mead; O many Junes for me, to whom Is length of days decreed. There shall […]
In the Nower poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
To J. De P. Deep in the grass outstretched I lie, Motionless on the hill; Above me is a cloudless sky, Around me all is still: There is no breath, no sound, no stir, The drowsy peace to break: I close my tired eyes–it were So simple not to wake. Amy […]
In the Night poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Cruel? I think there never was a cheating More cruel, thro’ all the weary days than this! This is no dream, my heart kept on repeating, But sober certainty of waking bliss. Dreams? O, I know their faces — goodly seeming, Vaporous, whirled on many-coloured wings; I have had dreams before, this is […]
In the Mile End Road poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
How like her! But ’tis she herself, Comes up the crowded street, How little did I think, the morn, My only love to meet! Whose else that motion and that mien? Whose else that airy tread? For one strange moment I forgot My only love was dead. Amy LevyAmy Levy […]
In the Black Forest poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
I lay beneath the pine trees, And looked aloft, where, through The dusky, clustered tree-tops, Gleamed rent, gay rifts of blue. I shut my eyes, and a fancy Fluttered my sense around: “I lie here dead and buried, And this is churchyard ground. “I am at rest for ever; Ended the stress […]
In September poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
The sky is silver-grey; the long Slow waves caress the shore.– On such a day as this I have been glad, Who shall be glad no more. Amy LevyAmy Levy (1861 – 1889) was a Victorian era poetess and prose author who wrote in English in the second half of the […]
In a Minor Key poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
(AN ECHO FROM A LARGER LYRE.) That was love that I had before Years ago, when my heart was young; Ev’ry smile was a gem you wore; Ev’ry word was a sweet song sung. You came–all my pulses burn’d and beat. (O sweet wild throbs of an early day!) You went–with the […]
Impotens poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
If I were a woman of old, What prayers I would pray for you, dear; My pitiful tribute behold– Not a prayer, but a tear. The pitiless order of things, Whose laws we may change not nor break, Alone I could face it–it wrings My heart for your sake. Amy […]
Felo de Se poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
With Apologies to Mr. Swinburne. For repose I have sighed and have struggled ; have sigh’d and have struggled in vain; I am held in the Circle of Being and caught in the Circle of Pain. I was wan and weary with life ; my sick soul yearned for death; I was weary […]
Contradictions poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Now, even, I cannot think it true, My friend, that there is no more you. Almost as soon were no more I, Which were, of course, absurdity! Your place is bare, you are not seen, Your grave, I’m told, is growing green; And both for you and me, you know, There’s no Above and […]
Christopher Found poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
I. At last; so this is you, my dear! How should I guess to find you here? So long, so long, I sought in vain In many cities, many lands, With straining eyes and groping hands; The people marvelled at my pain. They said: “But sure, the woman’s mad; What ails her, we […]
Captivity poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
The lion remembers the forest, The lion in chains; To the bird that is captive a vision Of woodland remains. One strains with his strength at the fetter, In impotent rage; One flutters in flights of a moment, And beats at the cage. If the lion were loosed from the fetter, To […]
Cambridge in the Long poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Where drowsy sound of college-chimes Across the air is blown, And drowsy fragrance of the limes, I lie and dream alone. A dazzling radiance reigns o’er all– O’er gardens densely green, O’er old grey bridges and the small, Slow flood which slides between. This is the place; it is not strange, But […]
Borderland poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Am I waking, am I sleeping? As the first faint dawn comes creeping Thro’ the pane, I am aware Of an unseen presence hovering, Round, above, in the dusky air: A downy bird, with an odorous wing, That fans my forehead, and sheds perfume, As sweet as love, as soft as death, Drowsy-slow through […]
Between the Showers poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Between the showers I went my way, The glistening street was bright with flowers; It seemed that March had turned to May Between the showers. Above the shining roofs and towers The blue broke forth athwart the grey; Birds carolled in their leafless bowers. Hither and tither, swift and gay, The people […]
Ballade of a Special Edition poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
He comes; I hear him up the street– Bird of ill omen, flapping wide The pinion of a printed sheet, His hoarse note scares the eventide. Of slaughter, theft, and suicide He is the herald and the friend; Now he vociferates with pride– A double murder in Mile End! A hanging to his […]
At Dawn poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
In the night I dreamed of you; All the place was filled With your presence; in my heart The strife was stilled. All night I have dreamed of you; Now the morn is grey.– How shall I arise and face The empty day? Amy LevyAmy Levy (1861 – 1889) was […]
At a Dinner Party poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
With fruit and flowers the board is deckt, The wine and laughter flow; I’ll not complain–could one expect So dull a world to know? You look across the fruit and flowers, My glance your glances find.– It is our secret, only ours, Since all the world is blind. Amy LevyAmy […]
A Wall Flower poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
I lounge in the doorway and languish in vain While Tom, Dick and Harry are dancing with Jane My spirit rises to the music’s beat; There is a leaden fiend lurks in my feet! To move unto your motion, Love, were sweet. Somewhere, I think, some other where, not here, In other […]
A Reminiscence poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
It is so long gone by, and yet How clearly now I see it all! The glimmer of your cigarette, The little chamber, narrow and tall. Perseus; your picture in its frame; (How near they seem and yet how far!) The blaze of kindled logs; the flame Of tulips in a mighty jar. […]
A Prayer poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Since that I may not have Love on this side the grave, Let me imagine Love. Since not mine is the bliss Of ‘claspt hands and lips that kiss,’ Let me in dreams it prove. What tho’ as the years roll No soul shall melt to my soul, Let me conceive such thing; Tho’ […]
A March Day in London poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
The east wind blows in the street to-day; The sky is blue, yet the town looks grey. ‘Tis the wind of ice, the wind of fire, Of cold despair and of hot desire, Which chills the flesh to aches and pains, And sends a fever through all the veins. From end to end, […]
A London Plane-Tree poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
Green is the plane-tree in the square, The other trees are brown; They droop and pine for country air; The plane-tree loves the town. Here from my garret-pane, I mark The plane-tree bud and blow, Shed her recuperative bark, And spread her shade below. Among her branches, in and out, The city […]