A Consolation to Cuckholds by William Wycherley poems
Injurious, spightful, and ill-judging Town, To cry the Trade of Cuckold-making down! When by it half your Sons to Honours rise, And raise their Fortunes, and their Families: Why then should that be deem’d Disgrace, or Shame, To which so many owe their Wealth and Name And so gain Honour, ev’n in Spight of Fame? […]
What Reward? by Winifred Mary Letts
You gave your life. Boy. And you gave a limb: But he who gave his precious wits, Say, what regard for him? One had his glory, One has found his rest. But what of this poor babbler here With chin sunk on his breast? Flotsam of battle, With brain bemused and dim, O God, for […]
To A Soldier In Hospital by Winifred Mary Letts
Courage came to you with your boyhood’s grace Of ardent life and limb. Each day new dangers steeled you to the test, To ride, to climb, to swim. Your hot blood taught you carelessness of death With every breath. So when you went to play another game You could not but be brave: An Empire’s […]
To A May Baby by Winifred Mary Letts
To come at tulip time how wise! Perhaps you will not now regret The shining gardens, jewel set, Of your first home in Paradise Nor fret Because you might not quite forget. To come at swallow-time how wise! When every bird has built a nest; Now you may fold your wings and rest And watch […]
Tim, An Irish Terrier by Winifred Mary Letts
It’s wonderful dogs they’re breeding now: Small as a flea or large as a cow; But my old lad Tim he’ll never be bet By any dog that he ever met, Come on ‘says he’for I’m not kilt yet! No matter the size of the dog he’ll meet, Tim trails his coat the length o’the […]
The Spires Of Oxford by Winifred Mary Letts
I saw the spires of Oxford As I was passing by, The gray spires of Oxford Against the pearl-gray sky. My heart was with the Oxford men Who went abroad to die. The years go fast in Oxford, The golden years and gay, The hoary Colleges look down On careless boys at play. But when […]
The Kerry Cow by Winifred Mary Letts
IT’S in Connacht or in Munster that yourself might travel wide, And be asking all the herds you’d meet along the countryside, But you’d never meet a one could shew the likes of her till now, Where she’s grazing in a Leinster field my little Kerry cow. If herself went to the cattle fairs she’d […]
The Harbour by Winifred Mary Letts
I think if I lay dying in some land Where Ireland is no more than just a name, My soul would travel back to find that strand From whence it came. I’d see the harbour in the evening light, The old men staring at some distant ship, The fishing boats they fasten left and right […]
The Deserter by Winifred Mary Letts
There was a man, – don’t mind his name, Whom Fear had dogged by night and day. He could not face the German guns And so he turned and ran away. Just that – he turned and ran away, But who can judge him, you or I ? God makes a man of flesh and […]
The Connaught Rangers by Winifred Mary Letts
I SAW the Connaught Rangers when they were passing by, On a spring day, a good day, with gold rifts in the sky. Themselves were marching steadily along the Liffey quay An’ I see the young proud look of them as if it were to-day! The bright lads, the right lads, I have them in […]
The Call To Arms In Our Street by Winifred Mary Letts
There’s a woman sobs her heart out, With her head against the door, For the man that’s called to leave her, – God have pity on the poor! But its beat, drums, beat While the lads march down the street, And its blow, trumpets blow, Keep your tears until they go. There’s a crowd of […]
Synge’s Grave by Winifred Mary Letts
MY grief! that they have laid you in the town Within the moidher of its thousand wheels And busy feet that travel up and down. They had a right to choose a better bed Far off among the hills where silence steals In on the soul with comfort-bringing tread. The curlew would have keened for […]
Screens (In a Hospital) by Winifred Mary Letts
They put the screens around his bed; a crumpled heap I saw him lie, White counterpane and rough dark head, those screens – they showed that he would die. The put the screens about his bed; We might not play the gramophone, And so we played at cards instead And left him dying there alone. […]
Easter Snow by Winifred Mary Letts
My jewel of the world, she sleeps so fast, She will not hear you, Spring wind, if you blow; So let you shake the blossoms of the thorn Till her bed is hidden deep in Easter snow. Bright jewel of my heart, she sleeps at last, O kind earth, wrap her round in your brown […]
Chaplain To The Forces by Winifred Mary Letts
Ambassador of Christ you go Up to the very gates of Hell, Through fog of powder, storm of shell, To speak your Master’s message: “Lo, The Prince of Peace is with you still, His peace be with you, His good-will.” It is not small, your priesthood’s price. To be a man and yet stand by, […]
Casualty by Winifred Mary Letts
John Delaney of the Rifles has been shot. A man we never knew, Does it cloud the day for you That he lies among the dead Moving, hearing, heeding not? No history will hold his humble name. No sculptured stone will tell The traveller where he fell; That he lies among the dead Is the […]
And She is Spoke by Winifred Mary Letts
I’VE heard a half a dozen times Folks call it Reims. That isn’t right, though, so it seems, Perhaps it’s Reims. Poor city ruined now by flames– Can it be Reims?– That once was one of France’s gems- More likely Reims. I’ll get it right sometime, perchance I’m told it’s Reims. ————— The End And […]
A Dog’s Grave by Winifred Mary Letts
He sleeps where he would wish, in easy call, Here in a primrose nook beside the wall. And near the gate, that he may guard us all Even in death, our faithful seneschal. I do not think the courteous Cherubim Will chide him if he waits, nor Seraphim Summon him hence till we may follow […]
Love Sonnet XXV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
I know no miracle so manifest As that you wrought upon me yesterday, Filling with love my chalice of pure clay From fragrant fountains of your own dear breast. Beaten and sad, with aching eyes I pressed Close unto you, and, as my body lay, Broken with pain and grief, you murmured, “Stay, I am […]
Love Sonnet LIV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
What have you more than I, who crave you so? Have I not hands and feet and thoughts to tell? All my sweet senses and fine dreams that swell Rich with contentments that the star-winds blow? Yet do I need you everywhere I go, As if you held me in some stinging spell; And nothing […]
Sonnet Of Motherhood XXXI poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
Beloved, I who shall be mother soon Need mothering myself this tired hour, As heavily the sweet and precious power Weighs on my heart till I am near to swoon. Console me, soothe me, Dearest, with the boon Of your firm strength, and little comforts shower Soft on the drifting doubtings that devour Patience […]
Sonnet Of Motherhood XXVII poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
O, not alone I weave this miracle Of glowing spirit from my body’s zone. With every moment of the life unknown You feed the glory of a growing cell. All day I think of you, and night must tell Dreams of my dreams unto your heart alone; So, seeing you, I take you, O my […]
Sonnet Of Motherhood XXIX poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
How strangely lone unto myself I grow, Listening and looking for I know not what; Turning my head with terror cold and hot At wandering whispers of a music low! Familiar pieces of my being flow Far, far away, to thymy hill and plot, While chained to patience in this close-shut spot I sit […]
Sonnet Of Motherhood XXIV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
How many holy women mothered me And brought me to perfection for this hour, When from my being all the living power Of sweetest woman should at last flow free? Aeons on Aeons on a loving knee Some woman rocked me in her scented bower, Till my soul bloomed an everlasting flower Calling with fragrance […]
Sonnet Of Motherhood XL poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
A miracle of miracles is here. Take off your shoes. This place is holy ground. No man-child ours like that the shepherd found By dreaming Mary when the Star burned clear. Our God has given us a woman, dear, 390ഊWith satin skin her dimpling shoulders round. No pinkest shell with sea-blown bubbles crowned Could match […]
Sonnet Of Motherhood X poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
I walked among the flowers that bend their heads Low to the earth and back again to light, Hearing them prattle of their blue and white— Violet and jasmine in the bordered beds. They whispered them of every wing that weds 388ഊFragrance to fragrance in the dusky night; And, seeing them, I knew another sight, […]
Sonnet Of Motherhood VIII poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
Make me the melody of meeting palms, The roundelay of little running feet. Strike me a measure to a trembling sweet Of the mouth’s laughter and the fingers’ psalms. I know of music in the ocean calms— A siren singing where the long tides meet. I know of lyrics in the leaf’s long beat, But […]
Sonnet Of Motherhood VI poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
I’d have you love my body as my soul, Praise it and magnify it night and day, Knowing its sweetness blossoms out of clay With tremulous movement to its spirit goal. These arms perchance have clambered branch and bole, These feet have run from many beasts of prey; But Love has led them to a […]
Memory poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
Late, late last night, when the whole world slept, Along to the garden of dreams I crept. And I pulled the bell of an old, old house Where the moon dipped down like a little white mouse. I tapped the door and I tossed my head: “Are you in, little girl? Are you in?” I […]
Love Sonnet XXXV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
I cannot find a fault in you; and yet I think you are not perfect many ways. I have seen lips more meet for maiden praise And eyes less shadowed with a grey regret. But pure perfection of your love has let The tenant mirrors of my mind such rays, All other men reflect a […]
Love Sonnet XXVIII poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
Give me a child!! Dear Heart, we have loved long, Draining each other’s sweetness to the last Wild drops of honeyed madness falling fast Upon our limbs in ecstasies of song. “More love,” we cried. “More, and still more.” And, strong And fierce, the tide of passion filled the vast Immeasured space of our desire, […]
Love Sonnet XXVI poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
O my Beloved, when to-day you said: “All this must perish and we two will go Soulless and senseless, to the dust below!” I could but smile and fondle your dear head. I could but catch your fingers as they fled Over my throbbing breasts and whisper low, “Whence came this breast to lure your […]
Love Sonnet XXIX poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
Dearest, there is no part of us, but air And earth are counterparts. Your fragrant eyes Touching my own, some essence of the skies Instil therein, and all your warm, brown hair Smells of the sun’s slow passion, fine and fair. I cannot touch your hands but I surprise Some element of summer; and the […]
Love Sonnet XXI poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
If there should be a moon above the hill To-night, dip down with me into the sea Of our first passion, and, with naked glee, Breathe its ripe wonder to our beings’ fill. O, as the moonbeams on the violets spill Rivers of uncontrolled felicity, We’ll tune our bodies to a melody And set our […]
Love Sonnet XVII poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
Beloved, lest I should remember, I Must swift forget the wonder of last night. Hot memory would but blacken out my sight And dull my senses till they seemed to die. How could I live, remembering that sigh… That breath…that sob…that all sublime delight? Eternal joy is death, I think, and might Not such sweet […]
Love Sonnet XV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
Love, you have brought to me my perfect soul, More sweet than earthly things, more precious rare, Hiding its fragrance in my loosened hair And folding up my body like a scroll. O, lie with me all night, and let the roll Of Rapture’s waves wash over us, as, bare Of anything save Love, we […]
Love Sonnet XLIX poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
In me there is a vast and lonely place, Where none, not even you, have walked in sight. A wide, still vale of solitude and light, Where Silence echoes into ebbing space. And there I creep at times and hide my face, While in myself I fathom wrong and right, And all the timeless ages […]
Love Sonnet XLIV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
Love is the sepulchre of all my sin, If it be sin to let the body sink In that slow dying the sick senses drink That ne’er have felt true Love’s delight rush in. Hot Vice may sear the bloom of Beauty’s skin Polluting Virtue with a painted wink, But Love smiles lightly at such […]
Love Sonnet XLII poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
My true mind makes as many loves of you As my full heart contentedly can hold. And when the one grows dull, the other cold, Yet comes another swifter in to woo. I could not rue such changing retinue Nor chastise circumstance that keeps me bold. I make you young or middle-aged or old Just […]
Love Sonnet X poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
And then came Science with her torch red-lit And cosmic marvels round her glowing head— The primal cell, the worm, the quadruped— Striving to make each to the other fit. Tongue-trumpeting her own unchallenged wit, She offered me the woof of Wisdom’s thread, And Truth and Purity that hourly tread The paths where sages in […]