Back From Australia poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
Cocooned in Time, at this inhuman height, The packaged food tastes neutrally of clay, We never seem to catch the running day But travel on in everlasting night With all the chic accoutrements of flight: Lotions and essences in neat array And yet another plastic cup and tray. “Thank you so much. Oh no, […]
An Edwardian Sunday, Broomhill, Sheffield poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
High dormers are rising So sharp and surprising, And ponticum edges The driveways of gravel; Stone houses from ledges Look down on ravines. The vision can travel From gable to gable, Italianate mansion And turretted stable, A sylvan expansion So varied and jolly Where laurel and holly Commingle their greens. Serene on a […]
A Subaltern’s Love Song poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
Miss J.Hunter Dunn, Miss J.Hunter Dunn, Furnish’d and burnish’d by Aldershot sun, What strenuous singles we played after tea, We in the tournament; you against me! Love-thirty, love-forty, oh! weakness of joy, The speed of a swallow, the grace of a boy, With carefullest carelessness, gaily you won, I am weak from your […]
A Shropshire Lad poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
The gas was on in the Institute, The flare was up in the gym, A man was running a mineral line, A lass was singing a hymn, When Captain Webb the Dawley man, Captain Webb from Dawley, Came swimming along the old canal That carried the bricks to Lawley. Swimming along – Swimming along […]
A Bay In Anglesey poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
The sleepy sound of a tea-time tide Slaps at the rocks the sun has dried, Too lazy, almost, to sink and lift Round low peninsulas pink with thrift. The water, enlarging shells and sand, Grows greener emerald out from land And brown over shadowy shelves below The waving forests of seaweed […]
Youth And The Pilgrim by Sara Teasdale
Gray pilgrim, you have journeyed far, I pray you tell to me Is there a land where Love is not, By shore of any sea? For I am weary of the god, And I would flee from him Tho’ I must take a ship and go Beyond the ocean’s rim. “I know a port where […]
Triolets by Sara Teasdale
Before a lonely shrine Of foam-born Aphrodite, Ungarlanded of vine, Undyed by dripping wine, I brought green bay to twine, And prayed to her, almighty, – And lo, the prayer of mine Was heard of Aphrodite. I sang of answered prayer, And now before the goddess, The maids lay flowers rare, And she has ceased […]
To L. R. E. by Sara Teasdale
When first I saw you – felt you take my hand, I could not speak for happiness to find How more than all they said your heart was kind, How strong you were, and quick to understand – I dared not say: “I who am least of those Who call you friend – I love […]
To A Picture Of Eleanor Duse by Sara Teasdale
Was ever any face like this before – So light a veiling for the soul within, So pure and yet so pitiful for sin? They say the soul will pass the Heavy Door, And yearning upward, learn creation’s lore – The body buried ‘neath the earthly din. But thine shall live forever, it hath been […]
To A Castillan Song by Sara Teasdale
We held the book together timidly, Whose antique music in an alien tongue Once rose among the dew-drenched vines that hung Beneath a high Castilian balcony. I felt the lute strings’ ancient ecstasy, And while he read, my love-filled heart was stung, And throbbed, as where an ardent bird has clung The branches tremble on […]
Since There Is No Escape by Sara Teasdale
SINCE there is no escape, since at the end My body will be utterly destroyed, This hand I love as I have loved a friend, This body I tended, wept with and enjoyed; Since there is no escape even for me Who love life with a love too sharp to bear: The scent of orchards […]
The Wine by Sara Teasdale
I CANNOT die, who drank delight From the cup of the crescent moon, And hungrily as men eat bread, Loved the scented nights of June. The rest may die-but is there not Some shining strange escape for me Who sought in Beauty the bright wine Of immortality? ————— The End And that’s the End of […]
The Wind by Sara Teasdale
A wind is blowing over my soul, I hear it cry the whole night thro’ – Is there no peace for me on earth Except with you? Alas, the wind has made me wise, Over my naked soul it blew, – There is no peace for me on earth Even with you. ————— The End […]
The Wind In The Hemlock by Sara Teasdale
STEELY stars and moon of brass, How mockingly you watch me pass! You know as well as I how soon I shall be blind to stars and moon, Deaf to the wind in the hemlock tree, Dumb when the brown earth weighs on me. With envious dark rage I bear, Stars, your cold complacent stare; […]
The Wayfarer by Sara Teasdale
Love entered in my heart one day, A sad, unwelcome guest; But when he begged that he might stay, I let him wait and rest. He broke my sleep with sorrowing, And shook my dreams with tears, And when my heart was fain to sing, He stilled its joy with fears. But now that he […]
The Wanderer by Sara Teasdale
I saw the sunset-colored sands, The Nile, like flowing fire between, Where Ramses stares forth serene And ammon’s heavy temple stands. I saw the rocks where long ago, Above the sea that cries and breaks, Bright Perseus with Medusa’s snakes Set free the maiden white like snow. And many skies have covered me, And many […]
The Voice by Sara Teasdale
ATOMS as old as stars, Mutation on mutation, Millions and millions of cells Dividing yet still the same, From air and changing earth, From ancient Eastern rivers, From turquoise tropic seas, Unto myself I came. My spirit like my flesh Sprang from a thousand sources, From cave-man, hunter and shepherd, From Karnak, Cyprus, Rome; The […]
The Unseen by Sara Teasdale
DEATH went up the hall Unseen by every one, Trailing twilight robes Past the nurse and the nun. He paused at every door And listened to the breath Of those who did not know How near they were to Death. Death went up the hall Unseen by nurse and nun; He passed by many a […]
The Unchanging by Sara Teasdale
SUN-SWEPT beaches with a light wind blowing From the immense blue circle of the sea, And the soft thunder where long waves whiten- These were the same for Sappho as for me. Two thousand years-much has gone by forever, Change takes the gods and ships and speech of men- But here on the beaches that […]
The Tree by Sara Teasdale
OH to be free of myself, With nothing left to remember, To have my heart as bare As a tree in December; Resting, as a tree rests After its leaves are gone, Waiting no more for a rain at night Nor for the red at dawn; But still, oh so still While the winds come […]
The Tree Of Song by Sara Teasdale
I sang my songs for the rest, For you I am still; The tree of my song is bare On its shining hill. For you came like a lordly wind, And the leaves were whirled Far as forgotten things Past the rim of the world. The tree of my song stands bare Against the blue […]
The Treasure by Sara Teasdale
WHEN they see my songs They will sigh and say, “Poor soul, wistful soul, Lonely night and day.” They will never know All your love for me Surer than the spring, Stronger than the sea; Hidden out of sight Like a miser’s gold In forsaken fields Where the wind is cold. ————— The End And […]
The Storm by Sara Teasdale
I THOUGHT of you when I was wakened By a wind that made me glad and afraid Of the rushing, pouring sound of the sea That the great trees made. One thought in my mind went over and over While the darkness shook and the leaves were thinned- I thought it was you who had […]
The Star by Sara Teasdale
A WHITE star born in the evening glow Looked to the round green world below, And saw a pool in a wooded place That held like a jewel her mirrored face. She said to the pool: “Oh, wondrous deep, I love you, I give you my light to keep. Oh, more profound than the moving […]
The Song Maker by Sara Teasdale
I made a hundred little songs That told the joy and pain of love, And sang them blithely, tho’ I knew No whit thereof. I was a weaver deaf and blind; A miracle was wrought for me, But I have lost my skill to weave Since I can see. For while I sang – ah […]
The Song For Colin by Sara Teasdale
I sang a song at dusking time Beneath the evening star, And Terence left his latest rhyme To answer from afar. Pierrot laid down his lute to weep, And sighed, “She sings for me,” But Colin slept a careless sleep Beneath an apple tree. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry […]
The Solitary by Sara Teasdale
My heart has grown rich with the passing of years, I have less need now than when I was young To share myself with every comer Or shape my thoughts into words with my tongue. It is one to me that they come or go If I have myself and the drive of my will, […]
The Silent Battle by Sara Teasdale
(In Memory of J. W. T. Jr.) HE was a soldier in that fight Where there is neither flag nor drum, And without sound of musketry The stealthy foemen come. Year in, year out, by day and night They forced him to a slow retreat, And for his gallant fight alone No fife was blown, […]
The Shrine by Sara Teasdale
There is no lord within my heart, Left silent as an empty shrine Where rose and myrtle intertwine, Within a place apart. No god is there of carven stone To watch with still approving eyes My thoughts like steady incense rise; I dream and weep alone. But if I keep my altar fair, Some morning […]
The Sea Wind by Sara Teasdale
I am a pool in a peaceful place, I greet the great sky face to face, I know the stars and the stately moon And the wind that runs with rippling shoon- But why does it always bring to me The far-off, beautiful sound of the sea? The marsh-grass weaves me a wall of green, […]
The Sanctuary by Sara Teasdale
IF I could keep my innermost Me Fearless, aloof and free Of the least breath of love or hate, And not disconsolate At the sick load of sorrow laid on men; If I could keep a sanctuary there Free even of prayer, If I could do this, then, With quiet candor as I grew more […]
The Rose by Sara Teasdale
Beneath my chamber window Pierrot was singing, singing; I heard his lute the whole night thru Until the east was red. Alas, alas Pierrot, I had no rose for flinging Save one that drank my tears for dew Before its leaves were dead. I found it in the darkness, I kissed it once and threw […]
The Rose And The Bee by Sara Teasdale
IF I were a bee and you were a rose, Would you let me in when the gray wind blows? Would you hold your petals wide apart, Would you let me in to find your heart, If you were a rose? “If I were a rose and you were a bee, You should never go […]
The River by Sara Teasdale
I came from the sunny valleys And sought for the open sea, For I thought in its gray expanses My peace would come to me. I came at last to the ocean And found it wild and black, And I cried to the windless valleys, “Be kind and take me back!” But the thirsty tide […]
The Return by Sara Teasdale
I turned the key and opened wide the door To enter my deserted room again, Where thro’ the long hot months the dust had lain. Was it not lonely when across the floor No step was heard, no sudden song that bore My whole heart upward with a joyous pain? Were not the pictures and […]
The Princess In The Tower by Sara Teasdale
The Princess sings: I am the princess up in the tower And I dream the whole day thro’ Of a knight who shall come with a silver spear And a waving plume of blue. I am the princess up in the tower, And I dream my dreams by day, But sometimes I wake, and my […]
The Poor House by Sara Teasdale
Hope went by and Peace went by And would not enter in; Youth went by and Health went by And Love that is their kin. Those within the house shed tears On their bitter bread; Some were old and some were mad, And some were sick a-bed. Gray Death saw the wretched house And even […]
The Old Maid by Sara Teasdale
I saw her in a Broadway car, The woman I might grow to be; I felt my lover look at her And then turn suddenly to me. Her hair was dull and drew no light, And yet its color was as mine; Her eyes were strangely like my eyes, Tho’ love had never made them […]
The Nights Remember by Sara Teasdale
THE days remember and the nights remember The kingly hours that once you made so great, Deep in my heart they lie, hidden in their splendor, Buried like sovereigns in their robes of state. Let them not wake again, better to lie there, Wrapped in memories, jewelled and arrayed- Many a ghostly king has waked […]
The New Moon by Sara Teasdale
DAY, you have bruised and beaten me, As rain beats down the bright, proud sea, Beaten my body, bruised my soul, Left me nothing lovely or whole- Yet I have wrested a gift from you, Day that dies in dusky blue: For suddenly over the factories I saw a moon in the cloudy seas- A […]